Bleach: True Darkness
by Harbinger of Light
Summary: Alternate Time Line. 23 years after Aizen's defeat, Ichigo is Squad 5 Captain, and there are several more changes in Soul Society. A new evil rises and old friends and allies stand united against it. On Hiatus for undetermined time
1. Chapter 1: Life

**A/N: This is my second fanfic, the first Bleach one, so I would appreciate reviews and suggustions but please no Flames, if you don't like it then don't read it. R&R please!**

**Disclaimer: I'm only going to put this up once, I do not own Bleach or anything related to it becuase it is owned by Kubo Tite. Also, if I use any ideas from any other series, they are property of their respective creators.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter One: Life**

Ichigo looked up from the paperwork he had been filling out and sighed as somebody dropped another stack on his desk, "Captain Yamato said that these are urgent Captain Kurosaki," the man said as he rotated his shoulder to relieve the pain from carrying the heavy papers.

"Of course they are, they're urgent, these are urgent, those are urgent," Ichigo replied in frustration as he pointed at different stacks on his desk yet to be even looked at. The man shrugged his shoulers and left. "Everyone thinks everything is urgent, kinda makes me miss the war," Ichigo said sarcasticaly as he leaned back in his chair. The war against Aizen had lasted for two years after they rescued Orihime from Hueco Mundo, after that Ichigo decided to move to Soul Society to become a full time Shinigami, he was also offered the position of Squad 5 Captain, which he happily accepted, Momo resigned as Liuetenant and transferred to Squad 10, so Rukia ended up becoming Liuetenant of Squad 5. There had been other changes to the ranks, most notably the other two new captains: Renji became the Squad 3 Captain, and Isshin was offered the captaincy of Squad 9 for his part in the war.

They worked well together albeit they still had their arguements about nothing, and almost immediately rumors began to spread that Captain Kurosaki and Liuetenant Kuchiki were more than just close friends, these were of course denied by both Ichigo and Rukia, for a while anyway. After a year and a half they became a couple, they were tired hiding how they really felt about the other. Then, seven years to the day that the war ended, they got married, much to joy of Isshin and Ichigo's sisters. Their other friends were also very happy for them, even Orihime, she had gotten over her crush on Ichigo and started a serious relationship with Uryu. Renji was upset about the entire thing, he still hadn't gotten over his feelings for Rukia, but he was happy for her because he knew that Ichigo made her happy. Byakuya, although he wasn't particularly fond of Ichigo, gave them his blessing because he respected Ichigo's power and ability to protect Rukia if need be, and he wanted Rukia to be happy.

Five years after they got married, Rukia gave birth to their first child, a boy with raven hair and amber eyes, they named him Kaien Kurosaki, in honor of Kaien Shiba, the former Liuetenant of Squad 13. They were both happier than they had ever been, and Isshin was simply ecstatic to be a grandfather. Then six years later, they had another child, this time a girl, with the same orange hair as her father and had Rukia's violet eyes. They named her Masaki in honor of Ichigo's mother, this sent Isshin on an over-emotional freak out.

Orihime, Uryu, and Chad had all moved to Soul Society shortly after Ichigo, they started teaching at the Academy to help better the Shinigami ranks, they were the best in their respective areas: Orihime taught healing techniques, Uryu taught reiatsu control, and Chad taught hand to hand combat. They had been welcomed by the Shinigami with open arms and each was given a place to live in the Seireitei.

Another familair face that had taken up residency in the Seireitei was the Arrancar and former Espada Nel, since she had played such a crucial role in overthrowing Aizen, the Soul Society was willing to overlook the fact that she was techniquely a Hollow. She worked closely with Squad 4 because of her healing abilities, but she wasn't officialy a member of the Squad.

And every now and then, an unexpected ally that helped them defeat Aizen would show up: Grimmjow. He had betrayed Aizen and helped Soul Society bring him down. Most of Aizen's Arrancar were gone, but some remained, Grimmjow and Nel were the strongest ones that still existed. Grimmjow mostly kept track of the movements and actions of the remains of Aizen's forces, and reported them to Soul Society. It wasn't as if he liked the Shinigami, but they were better allies than enemies, the only person he admitted to actually be a friend was Nel, he viewed Ichigo as a rival and his goal was to surpass him, they had fights every now and then, but they agreed not to have them to the death and not to seriously harm each other, and Ichigo always managed to win these sparring matches. At first, the Shinigami were uneasy about this arraingment, but over time they accepted Grimmjow for what he was, not really a good friend, but a reliable ally. Although, Kaien for some reason had taken a liking to Grimmjow, and always wanted to spend time with him when he showed up, calling him "Uncle Grimmy" when he was younger, Ichigo and Rukia were hesitant at first, but it became clear that Grimmjow had no intention of harming anyone in Soul Society, and he was more fond of his allies and their families than he would admit.

Overall, it had been 23 years since the war ended, Kaien was now 11 and Masaki was 5. Everything was peaceful, Ichigo and Rukia were happy with their lives, and loved their children dearly. Ichigo was snapped out of his world of thought when Rukia threw a book at his head from her desk across the room. "Ow! What was that for?" Ichigo asked as he rubbed his head.

"You spaced out again that's what. We have a lot of paperwork still, I would like to get home in time to spend some time with Kaien and Masaki before their bedtime," Rukia replied as she went back to her work.

"Yeah, good point," Ichigo said as he also returned to his work. Rukia was right, their work would often keep them in the Squad 5 office late and they would have little time to spend with their son and daughter before they had to go to bed. They continued at a faster, almost careless rate to get it done early, they finished in two hours, it was now 5pm. "There we go, all done. Wasn't a truly urgent thing in any of those piles. Now let's go home," Ichigo said with a stretch.

"Yeah, I'm sure Kaien and Masaki are going to be happy that we're home early," Rukia said as she shook her hand to get rid of the cramp and walked towards the door with Ichigo.

Ichigo put his arm around her shoulders and held her close to him, she returned the act by wrapping her arm around his waist and leaned on him slightly. "Of course they will, like you said we don't get to spend much time with them," Ichigo replied as he opened the door so they could leave, only to reveal another Squad 1 member with more paperwork.

"Captain Kurosaki, Liuetenant Kurosaki, Captain Yamato needs these filled out ASAP," the man said quickly.

"Tell him that ASAP is tomorrow, we're done for today and going home to spend time with our kids," Ichigo said bluntly as they swept by him after shutting and locking the office door.

"B-But they're urgent," the man said as they walked away.

"I don't give a damn, we've worked enough for today, it's time for family time," Ichigo said loudly as they turned the corner and went toward their house.

"Captain Yamato isn't going to be happy," Rukia said in a reasing tone.

"Do you care? I thought you wanted to go home and be mom for a few hours," Ichigo replied with a smile that he reserved only for Rukia and their children.

"No, I don't care if he gets mad. I want to spend time with our kids, I love being a mother, and I know you love being a father," Rukia stated as she snuggled into Ichigo's side and he tightened his hold on her slightly.

"Yeah, I do, but only because you're the mother," Ichigo said quietly as he bent down and kissed her, which she quickly returned.

"Get a room you two," somebody said suddenly.

Ichigo and Rukia looked up to find Renji walking toward them. "Hey Renji, what's up?" Ichigo asked, before, being caught like this would embarass Ichigo and Rukia to no end, but now they were comfortable enough with public displays of affection.

"Not much, had a ton of paperwork today, Izuru and I just finished and I wanted to know see what's going on, haven't had much time to talk to you two because of the new recruits applying for posistions and all," Renji replied, at first, seeing Ichigo and Rukia like that would have made him feel jealous, but he had mostly gotten over it now, thay had been married for 16 years after all.

"Yeah I know what you mean, we've been swamped," Ichigo replied.

"We've hardly had any time to spend with Kaien and Masaki, we had to rush through today's so we can get home early and have some family time," Rukia added.

"Makes sense, oh! I almost forgot, Grimmjow's supposed to report in the day after tomorrow, so there's gonna be a meeting for Captains and Liuetenants so we can all hear his report," Renji stated.

"Is he now? Well Kaien and Nel are gonna be happy, for some reason they really miss him when he's gone. And he'll probably challenge to another fight the first chance he gets, him and Kenpachi are the same," Ichigo said, grumbling the last part.

"Don't worry, you can beat him," Rukia said teasingly with a mischievous smile.

"Well, I don't wanna hold you two up, go spend time with the kids," Renji said as he walked off towards his home.

"See you later Renji," Ichigo stated.

"You should come over for dinner some time, we'll invite the others and have a little get together," Rukia added before Renji was too far away, he waved in to show he had heard her.

A few minutes later they arrived at their house, they entered and shouted, "We're home!"

The first one to respond was Masaki, she ran into the room shouting, "Mommy, Daddy!"

"Hey there, how's my little girl?" Ichigo asked as he lifter her up over his head.

"I'm good Daddy, me and Aiko drawed today, and we made cookies," Masaki responded cheerfully. Aiko was the nanny that Byakuya had hired for Ichigo and Rukia, seeing as they were very busy with their Captain and Liuetenant duties.

"Really? What did you draw today?" Rukia asked as Ichigo handed Masaki to her.

"I drawed bunnies like the ones you like Mommy," Masaki replied as she hugged Rukia.

Really, well I'd love to see them, can you go get them sweety?" Rukia asked her daughter. Masaki nodded excitedly and ran off to get her drawings when Rukia put her down.

As Masaki ran toward her bedroom, Aiko entered from the kitchen and Kaien came in from the sitting room. "Welcome home, you two are home earlier than usual," Aiko stated.

"We rushed through our paperwork so we could get home early," Rukia replied.

"I see, well I'll be going home then, I've been reading one of the books from the human world you lent me and it's very interesting Mr. Kurosaki," Aiko said as she gathered her things.

"Don't mention it, and we're gonna have a get together soon, we'd like it if you came," Ichigo said as she opened the door to leave.

"I'll certainly come, just let me know when you decide on the day," Aiko replied as she left and shut the door.

Kaien then walked up to his parents and said, "Hi mom, hi dad,"

"Hey there buddy, how are you doing today?" Ichigo asked as he shook up Kaien's hair which was less spikey than Ichigo's.

"I'm okay, I did that practice that Uncle Chad and Uncle Uryu taught me, and a few moves that uncle Grimmjow showed me," Kaien replied with a smile as he fixed his hair.

"You keep that up and you'll be as strong as me someday," Ichigo said with a smile.

Rukia moved closer and said, "Enough with the muscle-head talk, give Mom a hug." She embraced her son and he happily hugged her back. Ichigo smiled at this scene, Kaien was a lot like he was when he was a kid.

"Oh Kaien I almost forgot, Uncle Grimmjow is supposed to be coming the day after tomorrow to give his report," Ichigo said after a moment.

"Really? You think he'll have time to hang out?" Kaien asked happily.

"He should, he usually hangs around for a few days after he reports in before heading back to Hueco Mundo," Ichigo replied, it also would help if he promised to have a sparring match with him.

Kaien smiled at this, then Masaki ran back into the room to show her drawings to her parents. "Here Mommy, are they good?" She asked as she handed her drawings to Rukia.

Rukia gasped and exclaimed with a smile, "They're wonderful sweety!" Masaki's face beamed happiness when her mother complimented her drawings.

Ichigo looked at the drawings Rukia was holding, and she was right, they were great for a 5 year old'd drawing. He couldn't resist and said, "They're great, much better than your mom's drawings."

This caused Masaki to giggle and Ichigo and Kaien laughed, Rukia however, wasn't very amused, she gave Ichigo a death glare. "What was that Ichigo?" she asked with a cold tone.

"Sorry hun, couldn't resist," Ichigo apologized with a grin. He then turned to his kids and asked, "Okay who wants dinner?" knowing that if he and Rukia were making dinner then she would be distracted from the coment he had made.

"I do I do!" Masaki yelled excitedly.

"Yeah I'm getting hungry," Kaien added. With that they went into the kitchen where Ichigo and Rukia made a quick but filling dinner. After that they spent some family time together, they let Masaki stay up past her bedtime, they put them both to bed at 9:30.

As they tucked Masaki in they told her a quick bedtime story and kissed her goodnight, she sleepily said, "Goodnight, I love you Mommy, I love you Daddy."

"Love you too sweety," Ichigo and Rukia replied simultaneously.

They went into Kaien's room, he didn't like being tucked in anymore, but he liked having his parents say goodnight to him. "Goodnight Mom, goodnight Dad," he said as they came in.

"Goodnight Kaien," Rukia said lovingly.

"Goodnight buddy, see you tomorrow, we'll try to finish work early again," Ichigo sais as they quietly shut Kaien's door.

He and Rukia then went into the sitting room and drank some tea as they sat closely on the couch, practicaly cuddeing. They decided to have the get together after Grimmjow gave his report, because as much as Grimmjow denied it, they knew that deep down he enjoyed spending time with everyone. At about 11 they decided to go to bed, after they changed into their night clothes, they layed down. After a few minutes Ichigo started to kiss Rukia's neck and hold her, she turned and kissed him, then said sweetly, "Not tonight, not after that comment you made." With that she rolled over and went to sleep. Ichigo sighed, he should have seen that coming, so he just held her close and went to sleep himself, he was content with that.

**A/N: That's it for Chapter 1, I know it's kinda slow right now, but it'll pick up soon, and they'll be plenty of action. So please review.**


	2. Chapter 2: Report and Reunion

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, that's what made me want to type up this chapter so soon, that and I have no school tomorrow because I don't have an exam today, unlike yesterday, I had my Pre-Calc mid-term and I definetly bombed it. To answer a question a few people asked: Nel is an adult in this fic, as for a the Karin/Yuzu thing which I forgot last chapter, it will be explained in this one. Also realized that I got Captain **_**Yamamoto's**_** name wrong before. Enough with my rambling, on with the story. R&R!**

_'italics'_ thoughts

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Report and Reunion**

Rukia was the first to wake up the next morning, as she returned to conciousness she noticed that she didn't feel Ichigo's arms around her, she opened her eyes and saw that during the night she had moved over in the bed. She scooted closer to Ichigo, he was still on his side facing her, and snuggled into his chest and he subconciously wrapped an arm around her and held her. Rukia woke up before Ichigo every morning for one reason: so she could just lay there and be held by him before the hecticness of the day started. After about twenty minutes Ichigo began to stir slightly, Rukia looked up at his face just as he opened his eyes and said, "Well good morning sleepy head."

Ichigo looked down at her and smiled before asking, "How long have you been awake?"

"Only about twenty minutes, I was waiting for you to wake up," Rukia replied with a smile.

"Well sorry if I kept you waiting," Ichigo replied sarcastically as he rubbed her back.

"It's alright, you know I like to just lay here with you in the morning. Oh, and sorry about last night," Rukia said as she traced a circle on his chest.

"Sure you are, then again I probably shouldn't have made that comment about your drawings," Ichigo replied.

"Damn right you shouldn't have," Rukia exclaimed as she smacked his chest. She then sprung out of bed and with a grin she said, "Well let's go eat breakfast."

As Rukia left the room Ichigo stared after her and shook his head while quietly saying, "She'll never change." He then followed her from their bedroom to the kitchen where she had already started making some tea.

"It's your turn to make breakfast Ichigo," Rukia said in a cheerful voice, similar to the one she had used when she attended his school.

"What? I made breakfast yesterday," Ichigo replied quickly.

"I don't think you did," Rukia said in the same cheerful tone.

"Yes I did, I made pancakes and sausage," Ichigo said much louder than before.

At this point Kaien and Masaki entered the kitchen and Masaki, misunderstanding what Ichigo had said asked, "Daddy's making breakfast? Can we have pancakes again daddy?"

That was it, Ichigo couldn't say no to his daughter. "Sure we can, I'll even put some blueberries in them," Ichigo replied with a smile.

"Yay!" Masaki exclaimed as she ran over to her seat at the table where Rukia had poured her a glass of orange juice. "Thanks mommy," Masaki said as she started to drink the juice.

"You're welcome sweety," Rukia replied as she gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek. She turned to Kaien and asked, "Kaien, would you like juice or milk?" she asked Kaien because unlike Masaki who would only drink orange juice in the morning, Kaien wouldn't always drink the same thing.

"Um, I'll have juice," Kaien responded after a moment of consideration. "Thanks mom," he added as she poured the juice into his glass.

"No problem," Rukia replied as she gave Kaien a kiss on the cheek as well. After she put the juice away she went over to the stove where Ichigo was making the pancakes to check on them, a few were almost done.

"Don't I get a good morning kiss?" Ichigo asked with a grin.

Rukia made a fake gasp and replied, "How could I forget you?" With that she stretched up and he leaned down and she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. As they parted she glanced at the pancakes and said, "They're almost done, blueberries are good, but I prefer strawberries."

Ichigo glanced at her and saw her grin, it wasn't a lie, she did like strawberries more than blueberries, but he caught the double meaning of what she said. "I know you do," he replied with a knowing smile.

Rukia looked over at Kaien and Masaki and saw that they were lokking the other way and talking about something, she then turned back to Ichigo and with a wink said, "Well since you made breakfast I'll do something later." With that she walked away and got her's and Ichigo's tea and put them on the table before sitting down.

Ichigo thought to himself, _'Well she's in a good mood, flirting with me like that, but she was discreet about it.'_ A few minutes later Ichigo carried the platter of pancakes to the table and everyone dug in. After breakfast Ichigo and Rukia finished getting ready for work, which took about an hour and a half because they both needed to take a shower, and Rukia spent half an hour in the bathroom besides that. They had half an hour before Aiko would come so they spent that time with Kaien and Masaki, as well as deciding on a specific day for the party, they decided that since it was Thursday, and Grimmjow would get back and give his report the next day, they decided to have it Saturday at noon because even Soul Society gave weekends off. When Aiko arrived Rukia told her about the party beeing that Saturday at noon.

"I see, well I'll certainly come, the two of you better hurry or you'll be late," Aiko said as she glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Yeah, we'd better get going," Ichigo said as he too glanced at the clock, Rukia nodded in agreement.

Masaki walked up to them and said, "Bye mommy, bye daddy." She then hugged both of them in turn.

"Bye sweety, you be good for Aiko today," Rukia said as she hugged her daughter, Ichigo said something along similar lines.

"I will, are you gonna be home late today?" Masaki asked as she looked up.

"We'll try to get home at the same time as yesterday, okay?" Ichigo asked as he hugged her again. Masaki nodded excitedly at this.

"Bye mom, bye dad," Kaien said as he hugged Rukia, he didn't hug Ichigo much because he was at the age where he found it kinda embarassing for his dad to hug him, which Ichigo understood.

"Bye Kaien, you be good," Rukia said as she hugged him.

"He always is, keep an eye on your sister if Aiko has to do something alright buddy?" Ichigo asked as he ruffled Kaien's hair. Kaien nodded at this and Ichigo added, "That's my boy." With that Ichigo and Rukia walked a bit from the house and then used shunpo to get to the office on time.

"Alrighty, what should we do today?" Aiko asked as she closed the door.

The day passed almost uneventfully: Ichigo and Rukia made it to the office in record time, when they got there some new stacks of papers had already been delivered, Ichigo started the ones Captain Yamamoto had sent yesterday first so the old man wouldn't get too upset. During their lunch break they sent invitations for the party to those invited via Hell Butterflies, then got back to work so they could keep their promise to Masaki.

At about 2pm Isshin decided to drop by, of course, by "drop by" he kicked the door open and shouted, "Hellllooo Ichigo and Rukia!!!" This caused Rukia to jump at her desk and Ichigo to swear loudly and jump backwards, effectively sending both his chair and himself to the floor.

"H-Hello Isshin," Rukia replied shakily, not surprising considering her father-in-law almost gave her a heart attack.

Ichigo however, wasn't as polite with his reply, he jumped up, got right in his father's face and yelled, "What the hell?! Are you trying to give us heart attacks?!"

"Now now Ichigo, is that anyway to act in front of a lady, especially your wife? And Rukia, didn't I say you could call me 'dad'?" Isshin asked nonchalantly.

"You're lucky I don't kick your ass for that!" Ichigo yelled.

"Is that a challenge son?" Isshin asked with a grin, then without warning, tackled Ichigo to the ground. They then proceeded to beat each other, Rukia didn't bother to interfere, she had learned a long time ago that this was how they communicated.

After a few minutes Ichigo managed to throw Isshin off and yelled, "Enough!" After they got up and dusted themselves off, Ichigo asked, "Is there any particular reason you're here?"

"Can't I visit my son and daughter-in-law just for the sake of it?" Isshin asked with mock sadness.

"There's always a reason you do anything," Ichigo responded with a dead-pan expression.

"Alright, that's the first reason I came, haven't seen you two in a while, except at meetings. The second is I wanted to ask how my grandkids are doing," Isshin said with a more serious expression.

"They're alright, I get the feeling they miss us a lot, especialy with all this paperwork concerning new recruits lately. And Masaki told me she misses her grandpa," Rukia replied, the first part solemnly, the second with a smile.

"Oh Masaki misses her dear grandpa! Well I'll have to spend a lot of time with her at that party of yours Saturday. Ah, that reminds me Ichigo, would you like me to go to Earth and invite your sisters? It's been a while since we've seen them," Isshin suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, do you think they can close the clinic for the day?" Ichigo asked. When Isshin went back to Soul Society, he waited until Yuzu and Karin were old enough to live on their own, and after a few years they reopened the Kurosaki Clinic.

"I'm sure they can, they haven't seen us in about a year. Well, I should go take care of that now, oh, and as for work keeping you from spending time with the kids, come 5pm if you still have paper work, send it to me and I'll take care of it myself, I don't have much else to do anyway," Isshin said on his way to the door.

"You would do that dad?" Ichigo asked in half awe and half gratitude. Isshin nodded in response.

"Thank you so much," Rukia said, the gratitude obvious in her voice. Isshin gave a thumbs up and shut the door behind him. "That was very kind of him," Rukia said with a smile.

"Yeah, it was. Come on, back to work, let's get as much done as we can, don't wanna give the old man too much work," Ichigo said as he turned toward his desk.

"Was that an order Captain?" Rukia asked in a teasing tone while stepping closer to him.

Ichigo turned back and found that Rukia was right next to him,so he had to look down at her, he saw she had a mischievous smile on her face. "As a matter of fact it was," Ichigo replied.

Rukia's smile widened, she then reached up and pulled Ichigo's head down so she could kiss him. After a moment they parted, Rukia then said, "Alright, now I can get back to work."

As she went back to her desk Ichigo said, "Well you're in a good mood today, first you flirt with me at breakfast and now this." With that saud Ichigo also returned to his desk.

"Well, I'm just in a good mood, and I wasn't just flirting, I was serious," Rukia replied. Ichigo was silenced by this, he hadn't expected that, he must've had a dumbfounded expression because Rukia pointed at his face and giggled. They went back to work, after a few minutes Rukia quietly called, "Ichigo..."

"Ichigo looked up and looked back at her and asked, "Yeah?"

"I love you," Rukia said quietly.

"I love you too," Ichigo replied. He then asked, "Why'd you say that all of a sudden?"

"Just felt like saying it is all," Rukia replied with a smile. Ichigo smiled in return and they went back to work. Isshin returned around 4 to tell them that Yuzu and Karin would be coming on Saturday and then returned to the Squad 9 office. At 5, as they agreed with Isshin, they had a few members of their squad bring the rest of that day's paper work to the Squad 9 office. They went home right after, which made Masaki and Kaien very happy.

After dinner Ichigo said to the kids, "Guess what you two." When they didn't respond he continued, "Aunt Yuzu and Aunt Karin are coming to the party on Saturday."

"Cool," Kaien said with a smile.

"Yay! They haven't visited in so long!" Masaki cheered excitedly.

"That's not all, grandpa is going to take our left over paper work from now on, so that means that your dad and I will be home early every day from now on," Rukia added with a smile. Both children cheered and hugged their parents.

"That's the reaction I expected, make sure you thank grandpa when you see him at the party," Ichigo said with a laugh.

"We will," Kaien and Masaki replied at the same time. A little while later Ichigo and Rukia put the kids to bed and then returned to the sitting room, there they used a few Hell Butterflies to order food, drinks, and other stuff for the party from a few stores. About an hour and a half later they went to bed, and sure enough, Rukia's flirting turned into much more than just that. The next morning, thanks to their night time activity, Ichigo and Rukia woke up late and had to rush through their morning schedule to be on time, they were supposed to greet and inspect the new recruits until the meeting started, which would be when Grimmjow showed up.

Around noon, outside Seireitei's western gate, a Garganta opened and Grimmjow stepped out, the Garganta closing behind him, shielding his eyes from the sunlight as he said, "It's so God damn bright here compared to Hueco Mundo, hurt's my damn eyes." He took a few steps towards the Seireitei, but the walls came down and Jidanbo with them.

"Halt! Only those with permission may pass!" Jidanbo exclaimed in his booming voice.

"You dumbass, I do have permission! How many times is it gonna take to get it through your head?" Grimmjow asked with irritation in his voice.

"Oh, is that you Grimmjow? Sorry, it's been a while and I didn't recognize you at first," Jidanbo replied with a laugh.

"Didn't they tell you I was coming today? I called Thursday and told them I was coming today, first time I've used that spirit phone in months," Grimmjow said as he held out his blue and white cell phone as if it would prove his point.

"Yeah, they told me you were coming, but I'm just doing my job. Well, I won't hold you up any longer, you got a job to do too," Jidanbo replied, the gates then opened on cue and Jidanbo stepped aside.

"About time," Grimmjow said shortly as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked through the gate, it closed behind him. After a few steps he used sonido to get to where Captain Yamamoto was faster.

Ichigo and Rukia were with the new recruits and a few higher seat officers of their squad when they sensed Grimmjow's reiatsu. They looked up and Ichigo said, "Time for the meeting." Rukia just nodded in response. Ichigo turned back to other people there and announced, "Alright, Rukia and I have to got a captains and lieutenants meeting that was scheduled the other day," he paused and pointed to one of the seated officers and said, "I want you and a few others to finish showing the new recruits around and make sure they get settled in."

"Yes sir Captain Kurosaki," the man replied and went about doing the task while Ichigo and Rukia started their way to the meeting hall.

About half way there, an announcement came over the speakers set up everywhere, "All captains and lieutenants report to the meeting hall for a mandatory meeting."

"As if we didn't know already, we were told about the meeting two days ago and Grimmjow isn't exactly hiding his reiatsu," Ichigo said with a sigh.

"You know Captain Yamamoto, everything has to be done by protocol," Rukia replied, also with a sigh.

When they arrived they found that they were among the first to arrive: Captain Yamamoto and his Lieutenant Chojiro were at the front, Grimmjow standing in front of them so that he would be in the middle of the aisle created when all cpatains and lieutenants were present. The only others present were Renji and and Izuru, Isshin and Shuhei, and the ever punctual Byakuya and his new lieutenant(as new as you can call somebody holding the spot for 25 years) Hiro. They greeted each other with simple nods, as Yamamoto disliked unneeded talking at these meetings. Soon enough the rest showed up: Soifon and Omaeda, Unohana and Isane, Komamura and Iba, Shunsui and Nanao, Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, Kenpachi and Yachiru, Mayuri and Nemu, and Ukitake with both Sentaro and Kiyone.

Yamamoto banged his staff on the floor and said, "This meeting will now begin, Grimmjow, please make your report now."

"Sure. For the last three months I've been closely observing a number of former Numeros, I believe they were Szayel's because of their strange appearence. At first it didn't seem that they were doing anything, but starting two months ago, they started making regular visits to the human world, once about every three days. While there they would make contact with a group of spiritually aware humans, I made sure to keep my reiatsu hidden so I wouldn't be detected. They seemed to be giving advice to the humans, and what looked like some of Szayel's old research and experiment records. While I wasn't able to learn exactly what they were doing, I feel it is safe to assume they are planning something, and whatever it is isn't good. That is all," Grimmjow explained with an air of boredom.

"I see, that is troubling. Captain Soifon, I would like you to dispatch members from the Stealth Force to the location specified by Grimmjow," Yamamoto said.

"Yes sir, all I need are the coordinates," Soifon replied, Grimmjow then read the coordinates that he had recorded into his spirit phone.

"Unless anyone has anything to add, this will conclude the meeting, we don't know what will happen, so be prepared for anything. Grimmjow, will you be staying or heading back?" Yamamoto asked.

"I was planning on resting for a few days before heading back," Grimmjow replied.

"Very well, your quarters have been kept clean for you. This meeting is now finished," Yamamoto said loudly as he banged his staff on the floor again. With this everyone began to disperse, before Grimmjow could take off Ichigo and Rukia walked up to him.

"So Grimmjow, how've you been?" Ichigo asked.

"You know damn well that I'm fine, there isn't a thing in Hueco Mundo that can even scratch me," Grimmjow replied arrogantly.

"Well, there are the Vasto Lorde class menos, they could probably do some damage," Rukia said teasingly.

Grimmjow's eye twitched slightly before he replied, "Like hell they could."

"Anyway, we're having a get together tomorrow, we were hoping you would come, Kaien would be happy to see you," Ichigo said after a moment.

Grimmjow thought for a moment before shaking his head slightly and asked, "Why the hell should I?"

"Because if you come I promise to have a sparring match with you Sunday," Ichigo replied with a grin.

Grimmjow thought for moment and then replied, "Fine, I'll come. What time?"

"It's going to start around noon, but it'll go all day," Rukia answered.

"Alright, I'll be there around 1, I'm gonna sleep in tomorrow," Grimmjow said as he started walking away.

"Thanks Grimmjow, Kaien will be happy," Ichigo said to him teasingly.

"Yeah whatever," Grimmjow said as he walked out of the meeting hall.

The next the party started when most of the people invited arrived around noon, people were eating and drinking and talking amongst each other. Hitsugaya, Momo, and Matsumoto had arrived about the same time as Renji and Izuru. Hitsugaya and Momo had recently become a couple (no he's not a midget anymore) and were talking to to Isshin about some random topic. Renji and Matsumoto were absorbed in their conversation, Rukia suspected there was something going on between those two. Kenpachi and the usual guys from Squad 11(Ikkaku and Yumichika, Yachiru as well) were there, enjoying themselves without cuasing fights for once. Yuzu and Karin were spending some time with their nephew and niece, Ukitake along with Sentaro and Kiyone were talking with many people and just flat out enjoying themselves, Shunsui was of course drinking sake and lounging. Nel was flitting from place to place being a social butterfly, Byakuya was standing off to the side eating a small platter of food and watching the party and having a very subdued conversation with Chad, and Hiro was talking with Shuhei about something. Aiko was talking to random people and having a good time. Uryu and Orihime were talking to Ichigo and Rukia, they were getting many congratulations because of Orihime's pregnancy.

Then, at about 1:30, Grimmjow arrived to a party that was much bigger than he had expected. He almost turned around to leave when Nel shouted, "Grimmjow!" She then proceeded to use sonido and hug him, which he wasn't happy about. Now there was no way he could just leave, so he walked into the yard where everyone else was.

"Uncle Grimmjow!" Kaien shouted as he ran up to him. "How have you been?" he asked when he got to him.

"I've been fine, what about you?" Grimmjow asked in return, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he had a soft spot for the kid.

"I've been okay, but mommy and daddy are almost always home late because of their work, but grandpa is gonna take their extra paper work so they can get home early from now on," Kaien answered.

"Well that's good," Grimmjow said, conversations were not his strong point.

"And I've been training everyday, wanna see?" Kaien asked hopefully.

"Sure," Grimmjow replied. They went over to a more spacious spot and Kaien showed him how much he had improved. _'The kid really is something. He has a massive amount of reiatsu, not surprising since he is Ichigo's son. He also absorbs anything he's taught at an incredible rate, with Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Uryu, and myself training him, he could be stronger than all of us someday,'_ Grimmjow thought to himself as he watched Kaien. "Not bad at all kid, keep that up and you'll be stronger than your dad someday," Grimmjow said after Kaien finished. This caused Kaien to grin widely. The party continued for several hours into the night, eventually, Grimmjow actaully found himself enjoying the party. Even Byakuya lightened up a bit and had some fun. Around 10, the kids were already in bed and the party had pretty much ended, Grimmjow was one of the last to leave, the only one's who stayed longer were Renji and Matsumoto. On his way out Grimmjow yelled to Ichigo, "Don't forget, we're fighting tomorrow!"

"I won't forget," Ichigo replied. After everybody had left, Renji and Matsumoto leaving together and walking rather closely, Ichigo and Rukia went to bed, thinking about the good times they had, and how good their life was. Little, did they know, the Stealth Force had made a horrifying discovery on Earth.

**A/N: This chapter turned out much longer than I had planned, but I got what I wanted to put in there. I know Grimmjow is completely OOC in this but hey, it's been 25 years since he first met Ichigo, people change. Next chapter is when the action starts, might be a few days before I get it done though, so until then I hope you enjoyed this.**


	3. Chapter 3: It Begins

**A/N: Don't really have anything to say this time, except that the action starts in this chapter as I promised. Read and Review please.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter 3: It Begins**

The surviving Stealth Force members ran through the halls of the huge underground complex, Soi Fon had dispatched fifteen Shinigami to the location specified by Grimmjow, only four remained. When they arrived, they infiltrated the complex easily enough, and they discovered that these humans had been conducting twisted and sickening experiments on humans, Hollows, and Arrancars, they made Mayuri's look like doctor examinations. Before they could determine the purpose of these experiments, several of them were set loose and a vicious battle ensued. These creatures proved to be extremely dificult to eliminate, and possessed a killing prowess that far surpassed what they would normally have. The battle was won with only five losses on the Stealth Force's side, as they exited the room they were confronted by the human who had released the creatures, he introduced himself as Damien, he was lean in build, about six feet tall, had short blonde hair, and blue eyes that glowed eerily in the dark. Then, without warning, he attacked: long blades grew out of his arms and impaled two of the Shinigami, the blades then detached. Two Shinigami charged at him, he let loose a hysteric laugh as he held his fingers out and spines shot out of the tips, striking the two in vital areas. The remaining six fled towards the exit, which was five floors up, they tried calling Soul Society for back up, but the transmission was blocked. As they turned a corner, two more were cut down by another experiment set loose, the remaining four continued, they had failed to notice that everytime either one of the monsters were killed, or one of their comrades, the walls would flash briefly.

As they approached the exit they were confronted by another human, this one shorter than Damien, lean, had medium length white hair, and green eyes. "Wait! Shinigami!" the young man shouted.

"Why should we? Those experiments and your friend Damien just killed nine of our comrades!" the unit leader shouted back.

"I know, but things are going to get worse soon, I want to help stop this, please take me with you so I can explain what's going on," the man pleaded.

"Why should we trust you?" one of the Shinigami asked.

"Because I want to atone for what I've done here, if you want, take me as a prisoner, I won't resist," the man said as he held his arms out in submission.

"Very well, Bakudo number one, Bind!" the unit leader shouted and the man was bound by invisible chains of reiatsu. "Alright, let's get out of here," he added as he picked the man up.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here, been captured have ya, Lucas?" a voice asked from behind them. They turned to find the man called Damien standing there with a disturbing grin on his face.

"You again!" one of the Shinigami exclaimed.

"You didn't think you were gonna get out of here with a prisoner and not fight me did you?" Damien asked with a sadistic tone.

The Stealth Force members got into a fighting stance, Lucas then said, "Don't fight him, none of you are strong enough to beat him, he's at a level comparable to a lieutenant class Shinigami."

"Sir, take the prisoner and get out, we'll take care of this and catch up," one of the other three Shinigami said quietly. The unit leader nodded and shunpoed to the exit and escaped.

"That wasn't smart, your chances of beating me were better four on one, not that you would have won anyway, but you would have lasted longer," Damien scoffed as a long, serrated spine grew from each of his palms.

As the gate to Soul Society opened, the unit leader could hear the the painful screams of his men as they were killed, he knew they wouldn't be catching up, so he took Lucas through the gate and it shut behind them.

Damien looked around the room, it was stained with the blood of the three Shinigami, floor, walls, and even the ceiling. "That wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped," Damien sighed. He then noticed that one of them was still alive, his grin returned as the spines grew out of his hands again and he walked over to the Shinigami. He then began to repeatedly stab the Shinigami while laughing maniacaly, he didn't stop until his victim was an unrecognizable bloody pulp.

"Did you really have to kill them Damien? You do know we could've used them for experiments as well right?" a man with long black hair, lean build, and yellow eyes asked as he entered the room.

"Yeah, but since the real thing is almost ready, we don't need anymore lesser experiments. Besides, it's just more reiatsu to fuel Ranmyaku, right, Satosuke?" Damien asked with another grin.

"Indeed it is, it won't be much longer now, then this world and Soul Society will be ours," the man called Satosuke replied.

Ichigo and Rukia woke up suddenly to the emergency sirens and an announcement over the speakers, "All captains and lieutenants report to the meeting hall immediately for an emergency meeting, bring your zanpakutous. Grimmjow Jaggerjack, Uryu Ishida, Yasutora Sado, Orihime Ishida, and Nel Tu report to the meeting hall as well."

"What the hell is going on?" Ichigo asked as he jumped out of bed.

"I don't know, it must be urgent to wake everybody in the Seireitei up this late, it's three in the morning," Rukia replied as she changed from her nightgown to her Shinigami robes.

"What about the kids? We can't just leave them here alone," Ichigo said as he finished putting on his robes and started putting on his captain's haori.

"Well, I could run them over to Aiko's, I'm sure she would understand," Rukia replied as she finished getting dressed and put her zanpakutou in her sash.

"Alright, I'll tell them you'll be there in a few minutes," Ichigo said as he placed Zangetsu on his back and exited the bedroom, only to find Kaien and Masaki standing there sleepily.

"Dad, what's going on?" Kaien asked groggily.

"I'm not sure buddy, your mom and I need to go to a meeting to find out," Ichigo replied.

"What about us?" Masaki asked just as sleepily as her brother.

"I'm going to bring you to Aiko's house sweety," Rukia answered as she walked out of the bedroom.

"Oh, I'm really sleepy mommy," Masaki said as her eyes closed slowly and she teetered slightly.

Rukia bent down and picked Masaki up and craddled her in one arm, "I know sweety, I'm going to carry you. Kaien, give me your hand," Rukia said as Masaki fell asleep in her arm and she took Kaien's hand in her free hand.

"You sure Aiko won't mind?" Ichigo asked as he walked up next to Rukia.

"Yeah, now hurry up and get to the meeting, tell them I'll only be a few minutes," Rukia replied. Ichigo nodded, bent down and gave Rukia a quick kiss, and then used shunpo to get to the meeting hall and Rukia walked the kids down to Aiko's, only about two blocks away.

As Ichigo sped toward the meeting hall, he heard a very distinguished static sound, he looked to his left and saw Grimmjow heading in the same direction, as he moved over to where Grimmjow was he asked, "Hey Grimmjow, any idea what's going on?"

"Not a damn clue, but it better be important to wake me up like that," Grimmjow replied irritably, he apparently wasn't too fond of being woken up in the middle of the night.

"You think it might have something to do with the Stealth Force unit that was sent to investigate that place on Earth?" Ichigo asked after a moment.

"Could be, that seems like the most likely reason. Guess we'll find out soon enough," Grimmjow replied as they neared the meeting hall's doors. As they entered, they discovered that almost everyone was already there, the only ones not present yet were Uryu, Orihime, Ukitake and his two 3rd seats, Shunsui and Nanao, and Nel.

"Captain Kurosaki, Grimmjow, thank you for coming so late on such short notice," Yamamoto said as they entered. As he noticed that Rukia was not there he asked, "Where is your wife Captain?"

"Rukia's bringing the kids to their nanny's house, we couldn't leave them alone in the middle of the night, she'll be here in a few minutes," Ichigo replied. He then asked, "So what's going on?"

"From what I heard, the Stealth Force ran into quite a bit of trouble down there, and only one made it back, damn weaklings," Kenpachi answered rather loudly.

"Kenpachi! I will not tolerate you disrespecting my soldiers," Soi Fon retorted loudly.

"All I'm saying is they should have sent me instead, I would have just fought and killed them and this whole thing would be over and done with," Kenpachi replied.

Before the arguement could escalate, Yamamoto intergected, "Enough, the purpose of this mission was recon only, it was not a mission to kill the humans, now stop argueing, we will all hear the details once everybody has arrived."

Nel arrived in a few moments, and after greeting Ichigo and Grimmjow, went to stand with Unohana and Isane. Rukia arrived about a minute after Nel, she quickly went to stand with Ichigo and told him that the kids were fine and that Aiko didn't mind watching them. Uryu and Orihime arrived next, seeing as they weren't affiliated with any particular squad, they stood with Ichigo and Rukia, as Chad and Grimmjow were. Shunsui and Nanao arrived a few minutes later, Shunsui being practically dragged in, he apparently hadn't wanted to get up so Nanao had to go to his quartes and make him get up. And finally, Ukitake arrived with Kiyone and Sentaro, he explained that his illness had acted up and he had to wait until the fit was over before coming.

"Now that everyone has arrived, we will begin this emergency meeting," Yamamoto then paused and turned to the side before saying, "You may enter now." Everyone turned their heads to a door on the side of the room, it opened and a Stealth Force member and a young man with medium length white hair in a pair of reiatsu sealing handcuffs entered.

"As Captain Zaraki said, unit leader Hiretsuken is the only survivor of the Stealth Force unit that was dispatched, he has also brought a prisoner, one of the spiritually aware humans that Grimmjow reported. The prisoner wants to help us stop the others and will tell us exactly what is going on down there, but Hiretsuken will make his report first," Yamamoto said in a clear voice.

"Yes sir. When we arrived at the location specified by Grimmjow we discovered an entrance to a huge underground building, I don't know the full size of the complex, we only went down five floors, but it was obvious that there more. On the fifth subfloor we discovered an enormous chamber full of stasis tanks, they had been human, Hollow, and Arrancar at one point, but there had been several experiments performed on them, they were just twisted monsters at that point. Before we could find out the reason behind the experiments, several of them were suddenly released from their tanks, we had to fight them, they proved to be rather dificult to kill, and were surprisingly strong, stronger than they would be naturally, we lost five men in that room. As we exited that room we were confronted by one of the humans that Grimmjow reported, he introduced himself as Damien. He attacked without warning and killed two more of us, impaling them with strange blades that grew form his arms. Two of us attacked him, but he killed them quickly. The rest of us fled toward the exit, while turning a corner another two of us were cut down by another of the monsters. As we neared the exit, the remaining four of us encountered this human," he paused and indicated Lucas, then continued, "He asked us to take him with us, he willingly gave himself up as a prisoner. Before we could leave, Damien caught up to us, my remaining three men told me to go ahead and they would catch up, as I opened the gate I heard their screams, so I brought the prisoner through the gate and closed it. That is all," Hiretsuken explained.

Everyone was silent at this, they hadn't expected this. "Alright, now we will hear what the prisoner has to say," Yamamoto said as he gestured for Lucas to begin.

"Thank you sir," Lucas said as he bowed in respect. "My name is Lucas, for the last several years I have been working closely with two other humans: Damien, and Satosuke Juritsujiki. We began our research to better humans and spiritual being's lives, but I quickly discovered that was just a front put on by Damien and Satosuke in order to get cooperation. Soon enough, their true natures revealed themselves: Damien lived up to his name, where he is from the name Damien means "son of the devil", and he is every bit as blood thirsty and sadistic as his name would suggest. And Satosuke, he is evil, no other word can descibe him, he's highly inteligent, he has a genius IQ, he's very manipulative, plays on people's weaknesses,and he is bent on world domination, both Earth and Soul Society," Lucas explained.

"How strong are all of you?" Kenpachi asked quickly.

"I myself am the weakest of the three, my power is at about the level of a 3rd seat officer of the Gotei 13. My ability is that of being able to turn any object I am holding into any weapon I desire. Damien is the 2nd strongest of us, his power is comparable to that of a lower grade lieutenant of the Gotei 13, his ability is growing harder than steel, razor sharp blades, spikes, and spines from anywhere on his body and at any length, he is also capable of firing them from his body as projectiles. And then there is Satosuke, his power is at the level of an advanced lieutenant, almost captain level, he can freely control electricity in the area around him, and can also transform his reiatsu and fire it as lightning bolts from his body," Lucas answered.

"Not very strong at all, this Satosuke guy is wasting his time," Kenpachi stated in a disappointed tone.

"While it is true that neither Damien or Satosuke himself are strong enough to begin an open war against Soul Society with any hope of winning, that's where the experiments come into play," Lucas said solemnly.

"So is he trying to create an army of mutant creatures to fight for him?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm afraid not, that is not his plan," Lucas replied.

"What do you mean that is not his plan?" Ukitake asked.

"Those creatures are all failed prototypes," Lucas replied.

"Prototypes for what?" Hitsugaya asked in a nervous tone.

"Let me start at the beginning so I can explain the entire thing. All of the experiments are part of what Satosuke named "Project Shadow". The goal of this project was to create the ultimate life form, a being of such power and endurance that nothing would be able to stand in it's way, so that Satosuke could use it to enslave both worlds. For the last seven years all of the experimants have failed, resulting in those mutated creatures. But now, he has succeeded in creating a fully complete creature that could do exactly that, but it is not yet ready, it's power is not at maximum yet, so it can't be awakened yet. It's power is slowly, but gradually growing, at this rate it could be another two years before it awakens. But Satosuke foresaw that the Soul Society would find out, so he modified the complex, now whenever a fight breaks out in there, any stray reiatsu is absorbed by the walls and transferred directly to the successful experiment which Satosuke has named Ranmyaku. Also, if something dies inside the facility, of that being's remaining reiatsu and life force is transferred to it as well, which means that Ranmyaku has already absorbed all of the reiatsu and life forces of the fourteen Shinigami that died and the experiments that they killed, therefore, he is much closer to awakening than before. Damien believes that he and Satosuke will rule the two worlds together, but I've seen through Sarosuke's act, right from the start, Damien and I were expendable tools to him, once Ranmyaku awakens Satosuke will be able to control him, and he'll more than likely use Damien as a test for Ranmyaku's power," Lucas explained in a sorrowful tone.

At this the enitire room erupted in loud conversation, mostly shouting and argueing. Yamamoto banged his staff loudly on the floor and shouted, "Enough!" Once everybody was silent he turned to Lucas and asked, "How powerful will this Ranmyaku be once it is released?"

"I'm not entirely sure sir, but it is safe to assume that it will be as powerful as a one of you captains at the very least," Lucas replied while looking around the room, though he was techniquely a prisoner, he was honored to be in the presence of the strongest warriors in all of Soul Society.

"I see, then we should decide what course of action we should take: we can either wait until Ranmyaku awakens and then deal with him, or we can attack right away to try to prevent his awakening," Yamamoto said after a moment.

"I say we wait until it wakes up, it sounds like it would be a fun fight," Kenpachi stated immediately.

"May I say something sir?" Lucas asked Yamamoto. When Yamamoto nodded Lucas said, "My suggestion is that you should take immediate action, if you wait until Ranmyaku awakens, you might not be able to kill him, but right now he is vulnerable and weak, he can be killed now. Though it will still be risky, going there and fighting against those experiments could supply Ranmyaku with enough reiatsu to awaken, though the other experiments are failures compared to him, there are some that are very powerful. Either way, there will be the risk of Ranmyaku awakening."

"There we have it, I think we capatins should all vote on which course of action to take, all those that want to wait to take action raise your hands," Yamamoto said. Only Kenpachi and Mayuri raised their arms. Yamamoto took count and then continued, "All those we think we should take immediate action raise your hands." The other eleven cpatains raised their hands. "Alright, Captain Unohana, please prepare a large number of rejuvination capsules (rejuvination capsules are a more recent breakthrough for the 4th and 12th Squads, using Nel's healing saliva as a base, Orihime then applies her healing ability to that base, it is then taken to a 12th Squad lab were it is fused with powerful reiatsu and put under a high amount of pressure until it becomes a medicine like pill, the effects of ingesting one is that all injuries are healed and reiatsu returned to maximum, but they are difficult to make, so they are only used in dire situations). I want the top units of Squads 5 and 10 to head out tomorrow at five P.M., accompanied by their captains and lieutenants. I would also like have Uryu and Orihime Ishida along with Yasutora Sado to accompany them," Yamamoto ordered.

"I'm going as well, it's partially my fault that this threat exists," Lucas said.

Yamamoto thought for a moment before replying, "Very well, but you will be under close observation." Lucas nodded gratefully.

Ichigo stepped forward and loudly said, "Captain Yamamoto, I request that Rukia remain here and not go on this mission."

Rukia immediately walked up to Ichigo and got in his face and began to yell, "Ichigo! How many times do I have to tell you not to worry about me, I can take care of myself! I'm more than capable of going on this mission!"

"I know that Rukia, I'm not saying that. What I mean is that if what Lucas said is true then there's a chance that anyone going on this mission will die, I'm thinking about our kids, this way if the worst happens they'll still have you, I don't want them to finish growing up without any parents," Ichigo replied as he took Rukia by the shoulders and looked at her with a loving expression.

After a moment Rukia nodded, then turned to Yamamoto and said, "I request that I be taken off this mission sir, for the sake of my children."

"I also request that I be taken off the mission as I am pregnant," Orihime added.

Yamamoto nodded and replied, "Very well, I understand, the two of you may stay."

"Thank you sir," Rukia and Orihime said as they bowed.

"I volunteer myself and Lieutenant Izuru to fill the gap left by them sir," Renji said as he and Izuru stepped forward.

"I'm going too, whether you allow it or not," Grimmjow said loudly as he stepped forward.

"Very well, so the attack force has been decided: the elite units of Squads 5 and 10, accompanied by Captains Ichigo Kurosaki, Hitsugaya, and Abarai, Lieutenants Izuru and Matsumoto, Uryu Ishida, Yasutora Sado, Grimmjow Jaggerjack, and Lucas. All of you rest up, your mission begins tomorrow," Yamamoto declared as he banged his staff on the floor, ending the meeting.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one, the name Ranmyaku is actually the Japanese word for chaos, I think the name fits. And I think it goes without saying that Damien matches his name perfectly. That's all for now, please Review.**


	4. Chapter 4: Infiltration and Separation

**A/N: Sorry that this update took longer than the others, but I had school all week and no spare time to sit down and write this. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, especially ichirukipwns who has reviewed every chapter so far. Read & Review.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter 4: Infiltration and Separation**

All of the next day, the Seireitei was full of activity as preparations were made to send the attack force to the human world all at once, since the gate wasn't normally used for that many people all at once. The elite units of Squads 5 and 10 consisted of fifteen Shinigami each, so counting them there were thirty-nine fighters going. The 4th and 12th Squads were rushing to complete the rejuvenation capsules, and others were rushing around making other preparations, in case the worst happened and the attack force failed. The ones going on this mission spent the day resting so they could be at their best.

Ichigo was sitting against a tree in a field outside of the Seireitei, he and Rukia had brought Kaien and Masaki out for a picnic. Ichigo and Rukia had just finished putting down the blanket and setting the food on it, Kaien and Masaki were playing a game about ten feet away. Rukia sat next to Ichigo and rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her to bring her closer. After a moment of watching their children play Rukia asked, "Are you worried?"

"A little, but when I think about you and our kids I don't, because as long as I'm fighting to protect the ones I love, then I can win," Ichigo replied quietly. He then asked, "Why? Are you worried?"

"Of course I am, I always worry about you when you fight, you should know that by now. Plus, I can't help but think that the worst could happen, just the thought of that is unbearable, and it would crush Kaien and Masaki," Rukia replied as she buried her face in the fabric of his kimono to hide the tears that had formed in her eyes.

Ichigo brought his hand to her back and rubbed it in a calming way while saying, "I know how you feel, but that won't happen."

Later that day, the attack force was gathered at the gate to the human world making their final preparations. Captain Unohana stepped forward and said, "We were able to make a large amount of rejuvenation capsules, but not as many as we had hoped, there are enough for each of the unit members to take two each, and one for everyone else." She then proceeded to distribute them with the aid of other Squad 4 members.

"Attention!" Yamamoto exclaimed as he took his place in front of the gate. Once he had everyone's attention he continued, "You brave warriors who are departing have an important mission: Prevent Ranmyaku's awakening if possible and eliminate Satosuke Juritsujiki, if you can not prevent the awakening then you must eliminate Ranmyaku as well. Do your absolute best in the upcoming battle, try to come back alive." With that he walked to side and signaled for the gate to be opened.

Ichigo turned to Rukia, Kaien, and Masaki, they had come to see him off. He embraced Kaien and Masaki while saying, "I'll be back as soon as I can, be good for your mother, I love you both."

"We will dad, be careful," Kaien replied quietly.

"I love you too daddy, I'll be good," Masaki replied tearfully, she didn't understand why he had to go and she had heard some people say that he might die.

As Ichigo stood he embraced Rukia tightly, then gave her a passionate kiss, which she quickly returned, not caring that there were many people around them. As they parted and Rukia rested her head on his chest he said, "I love you."

Rukia tightened her embrace and replied, "I love you too, don't do anything stupid."

"I won't, I promise I'll come back," Ichigo said with the same tone he had used when he had sworn to rescue her from the execution. After a few more moments they parted and Rukia went to say farewell to the others who were leaving.

Byakuya walked up to Ichigo and just stared him down for a moment before saying, "Ichigo, you had better come back alive. If you don't, it would crush Rukia, not to mention your children. Good luck."

"I know, thank you Byakuya," Ichigo replied as he held his hand out. Byakuya considered it for a moment before extending his hand grasped Ichigo's in a firm hand shake. With that, Byakuya turned and walked away from Ichigo. After several minutes the farewells were complete and the gate was opened. Taking one last look at the people gathered there, Ichigo and the others rushed through the gate and it closed behind them.

As they emerged from the portal, they found themselves on the outskirts of a large city, Ichigo looked around and asked, "Where are we?"

"This is as close as we could get using the gate, for some reason it was blocked from opening any closer to the facility than this. We are currently fifty miles north of the facility," Hitsugaya replied calmly.

"Fifty? Damnit, that's one hell of a walk," Renji said grudgingly.

"Then we should go right now," Grimmjow added impatiently.

* * *

At the facility, Satosuke sat in a chair facing a large number of screens, on one of them was the attack force from Soul Society. Damien looked at the screen and said, "They're really serious, they sent three captains after us." 

"Yes, there are three captains, but those two are comparable to a captain as well," Satosuke said while indicating Chad and Uryu. He then indicated Grimmjow, "And this one is an Arrancar, and he is at the level of an Espada from Aizen Sosuke's army, in fact, I think that is Grimmjow Jaggerjack, he was mentioned in Szayel's records, he was the 6th Espada. And our friend Lucas is with them," he said calmly.

"You were right, if we let him get taken by the Shinigami he would enlist their help, with that much reiatsu we can awaken Ranmyaku, right?" Damien asked hopefully.

"Yes, and thanks to the gate not being able to be opened here, they have entered this world right where I wanted them to, time to divide their forces," Satosuke said with a grin as he pressed a button on the panel in front of him.

* * *

As Ichigo and the others turned toward their destination they heard a mechanism being activated, they turned and saw panels on the ground opening to reveal missiles, all around the city they were opening, all pointing above the city at one spot. 

"What the hell is going on?" Ichigo voiced the question on all of their minds.

"It's Satosuke! He knows we're here, he's doing this!" Lucas exclaimed. Suddenly the missiles all fired at once and collided over the city, when they exploded there was no fire or anything that one would expect, but there was a powdery substance drifting down to the city.

"What is that stuff?" Matsumoto asked. Grimmjow then started to twitch slightly at a scent in the air but shook it off.

Uryu noticed this and realized what it was, "It's Hollow bait, a strong one at that."

"How strong?" Ichigo asked, remembering the incident when Uryu had used Hollow bait.

"Bait this strong will attract Menos, Gillians and Adjuchas. It will only take a few minutes for them to show up with this much bait in the air," Uryu responded.

"This is bad, if Gillians and Adjuchas show up this city won't have a chance, we have to stay and fight them off," Hitsugaya said in an angry tone. As if on cue, the howls of Hollows could be heard as several portals from Hueco Mundo opened, some were regular Hollows, but there were some Gillians and Adjuchas as well.

As Hitsugaya and several others prepared to leap into action, Chad held out his arm in a signal for them to stop before saying, "There is no need for all of us to stay here and fight, if they are only Gillians and Adjuchas, then two fighters of captain level should be enough."

"That's right, leave this to us, the rest of you go ahead and we'll catch up," Uryu said as he and Chad started toward the city.

"Wait! We can't just leave you here to fight all of these Hollows by yourselves," Ichigo exclaimed.

"Ichigo, leave it to us, believe in us. We took on Espada class Arrancar during the war, we can handle some Hollows," Chad said quietly as his arms transformed into Brazo Derecho de Gigante (right arm of the giant) and Brazo Izquierda del Diablo (left arm of the devil).

"Besides, you need numbers where you're going, so you can't spare any squad members. Hollows of this level are no problem for us, now go," Uryu added as his bow appeared in his hand.

"Right, I'll see you guys later," Ichigo said after a moment.

"Count on it," Chad and Uryu said simultaneously as they used their equivalents of shunpo and rushed toward the city. Ichigo and the others all used shunpo, except for Grimmjow who used sonido, and started toward the facility, led by Lucas.

* * *

"Hmm, so that one with the glasses is a Quincy, and the other one has an unusual power. Well they should be able to deal with the Hollows in the city, which means we have two less captain level fighters to worry about, and the reiatsu absorbers and transferrers I placed in the city will supply Ranmyaku with all of the reiatsu released in those battles," Satosuke said with amusement. 

"There are still plenty of them for me to kill right?" Damien asked with a blood thirsty tone.

"There are four of them that you would be no match against, how about I let you handle Lucas when the time comes?" Satosuke asked. When Damien nodded Satosuke continued, "I want you prepare the Gamma group and place them in the fifth-sixth floor junction, then prepare Psi and Omega and place them in the fifteenth floor testing arena."

"You want me to place experiments in just those two rooms?" Damien asked with an unbelieving expression.

"That's right, that is all that will be necessary, and I will make certain preparations on the tenth floor," Satosuke replied as he left the room and headed for the tenth floor.

"He must have something planned," he paused and looked at the screen that currently displayed the approaching fighters then continued, "Too bad for you." With that said he went to complete the tasks Satosuke had charged him with.

* * *

After twenty minutes they reached the entrance to the facility, they all stood there for a moment in order to catch their breath. "So Lucas, how large is this place?" Renji asked as he looked at the door built into the side of huge boulder. 

"There are twenty floors in all, Ranmyaku is in a stasis tank on the last floor, it's likely that Satosuke and Damien are there as well. It's also likely that they have let experiments loose in the facility in order to collect your reiatsu," Lucas explained quickly.

"How strong are the experiments?" Hitsugaya asked coldly.

"Most of them are about as strong a tenth seat officer in the Gotei 13, but there are a few that are as strong as lieutenants and one that could hold its own against a captain for a little while," Lucas responded.

"Doesn't sound like we'll have much of a problem then, here I thought they'd be strong enough for a challenge," Grimmjow muttered.

"While it's true that none of the experiments could beat somebody on your level, don't underestimate Satosuke. He knew where we would enter the human world and he made a plan accordingly to divide our forces. He undoubtedly has made more plans and set traps to the same effect as that Hollow bait," Lucas warned solemnly.

"Why don't we stop talking and just go in and put an end to this as quick as possible," Ichigo said loudly as he started walking toward the door, his squad members following him. The others quickly followed after him as well. They entered the facility with no problem and made their way down to the fifth floor not running into a single living thing. "Hey Lucas, what's going on? Didn't you say that Satosuke was probably going to let experiments loose?" Ichigo asked as he continued to look around warily.

"That's been troubling me as well Captain, uh, Kurosaki," Lucas replied having to think a moment to remember Ichigo's last name.

"Just call me Ichigo, it annoys me when people call me 'Captain Kurosaki', but everyone except those I'm close to call me that so I get tired of hearing it. That and my father is also a captain so it can get confusing if we're both in the room," Ichigo said.

"I see, then I will call you Ichigo. Can I ask you why you didn't want your lieutenant to come with us? I'm afraid I didn't hear the conversation between you and her and then I was escorted out before the head captain finalized anything," Lucas asked with true curiosity.

"I didn't even notice that you had left," Ichigo replied.

"Same here, you kinda have that presence that isn't very noticeable," Renji added with a grin, which caused Lucas to dead-pan.

"And you are Captain Abarai, correct?" Lucas asked after a moment.

"Yeah, but you can just call me Renji, I'm like Ichigo here, don't like the formalities," Renji replied with a wave of the hand.

"And I'm Izuru, his lieutenant," Izuru introduced himself politely.

"I see, and you are?" Lucas asked Hitsugaya.

"Captain Hitsugaya," he replied shortly.

"Ah come on Toshirou, can't you drop the formalities for once?" Ichigo asked with a grin. Hitsugaya growled slightly in response and the temperature dropped slightly.

"Unlike the rest of us, my captain isn't as relaxed with titles, I'm Matsumoto, Hitsugaya's lieutenant," Matsumoto said cheerfully.

"And before you ask I'm Grimmjow, I'm a former Espada of Aizen Sosuke's Arrancar army," Grimmjow said as Lucas turned to him.

"I'm pleased to meet you all properly. So, what was the reason you didn't want your lieutenant to come along Ichigo?" Lucas returned to his question.

"Ah, that is an interesting subject. Rukia is the name of Ichigo's lieutenant, but she is also known as Lieutenant Kurosaki. She and Ichigo are married with two kids," Matsumoto answered in her overly cheerful tone.

"And the reason I didn't want her to come was for our children, if the worst happens all of us could die, I don't want our children to grow up without any parents," Ichigo added seriously.

"I see, that makes sense," Lucas said as they rounded another corner. They entered a huge room, at least 200 square meters, at the other end was the stair case to the next floor. "This is the fifth-sixth floor junction, it is also used to house several experiment, that's the reason for it's size," Lucas explained as they looked around.

"Well where are they then?" Grimmjow asked, indeed, there were no experiments in the room.

After a few minutes they began to make their way across the chamber, when suddenly a voice spoke to them from speakers in the ceiling, "Welcome to my lovely home. I'm sure you already know all about what I'm doing here thanks to Lucas. I'm sure you are wondering how your two friends are doing, well rest assured they are fine. They are doing an excellent job disposing of the Hollows, and providing Ranmyaku with large amounts of reiatsu, I placed reiatsu transferring devices in that city."

"That's Satosuke," Lucas said loud enough for the others to hear.

"Why don't you show yourself and fight using your own power?!" Ichigo shouted at the ceiling.

"All in due time Captain Kurosaki. Why should I fight when I have so many pets that can do it for me? Speaking of which, enjoy the welcoming party," Satosuke said with a chuckle as panels in the floor and walls opened and let several experiments into the room, around thirty of them.

As they looked around Ichigo gripped Zangetsu and prepared to leap into battle, but was interrupted by one of his squad members. "Captain Kurosaki, you and the others go on ahead, leave this to us and the Squad 10 unit, these should be no problem for us, and there will undoubtedly be stronger ones further in. Stopping Satosuke is all that matters right now," the unit leader said.

Ichigo looked over to Hitsugaya and asked, "What do you think?"

Hitsugaya though for a moment before saying, "Alright, we'll leave this to them. Matsumoto, stay here and help them, you are in charge."

"Right," Matsumoto replied as she unsheathed her zanpakutou.

"You are to obey Lieutenant Matsumoto's orders, understood?" Ichigo asked his subordinates.

"Yes sir!" They all exclaimed in unison and charged into battle, Ichigo and the others rushed down the stairs.

* * *

"They split up again, they left the thirty weaker fighters to fight the Gamma group," Damien said as he watched the screens. 

"Of course they did, they want to stop us, therefore they will keep dividing their forces to keep moving on. They are playing right into my design; at this rate, by the time they get here Ranmyaku will be awake. Next is the tenth floor trap, now let's see, which of them are the strongest," Satosuke said to himself as he brought up a reiatsu analyzing feature on the screens, it showed to the amount of power each fighter had. After a moment he pointed at Ichigo and Grimmjow and said, "Those two are strongest of them, they'll work perfectly."

Damien looked at the grin on Satosuke's face and thought to himself, _'What the hell does he have planned for them?'_

* * *

They ran as quickly as they could through the sixth and ninth floors without encountering anything, when they arrived at the tenth floor Lucas signaled for them to stop as he looked around with a dumbstruck expression. "What's wrong?" Ichigo asked as he too looked around. 

"It isn't the same, this floor used to look like the others, but now it looks like the fifth-sixth floor junction," Lucas replied quickly.

"What does that mean?" Renji asked.

"It means that Satosuke did something here as well, most likely another trap," Hitsugaya concluded as they made their way to the center of the room.

Once they got to the center Satosuke communicated with them again, "Very good Captain Hitsugaya, but this trap is nothing like the previous one." After he said this the room warped and everyone closed their eyes. When they opened them they found themselves outside the facility, but the stair case to the eleventh floor remained where it had been in the room.

"What the hell?!" Ichigo, Renji, and Grimmjow exclaimed in unison.

"I created a device that allows to bend time and space to my will, but only in a limited space. You are currently 100 miles west of the facility, but down the stairs is the eleventh floor. You may continue if you wish," Satosuke's voice came from nowhere.

They warily made their way to the stairs and started to descend them, but when Ichigo and Grimmjow tried they were blocked by a force field. "Why the hell can't we get through?!" Ichigo shouted in frustration.

"Oh, I forgot to mention one detail. I chose two of you to be affected in another way, Ichigo and Grimmjow can not pass until they have a battle, only the victor of that battle can pass. The only way to win is to incapacitate or kill the other, good luck," Satosuke added with a laugh.

"Well Ichigo, I guess we get to have that sparring match after all," Grimmjow said after a moment and started to warm up.

"I guess so," Ichigo said as he turned his back on the others and faced Grimmjow while doing some warming up himself.

"Wait! This is exactly what Satosuke wants. If the two of you fight a massive amount of reiatsu will be released and be transferred to Ranmyaku," Lucas shouted.

"He's right Ichigo! We should try to figure out a way to get the two of you passed the barrier," Renji added.

"No, we can't waste any time. Go on ahead and end this, you should be able to before we release enough reiatsu to wake that thing up," Ichigo replied.

"Very well, we will go ahead and continue the infiltration and confront Satosuke and Damien. Kurosaki, Grimmjow, don't do anything reckless," Hitsugaya said as he signaled for Renji, Izuru, and Lucas to follow.

"Yeah, one of us will be right behind you," Grimmjow said as they descended the stairs.

"If it's alright with you, let's skip the warm up, that way we won't send as much reiatsu to Ranmyaku," Ichigo said as he removed Zangetsu from his back. When Grimmjow nodded and unsheathed his zanpakutou Ichigo pointed Zangetsu downward and shouted, "Bankai!" They then stared each other down, then vanished from sight and collided with their swords locked.

* * *

"This is just too perfect, everything is going according to plan," Satosuke said as he watched Ichigo and Grimmjow start fighting. 

"The others are on the eleventh floor now," Damien said as he watched the remaining four.

"Why don't you go to the fifteenth floor and greet them, then introduce them to Psi and Omega?" Satosuke asked with a sadistic tone. A demonic grin appeared on Damien's face as he left to do just that.

**A/N: Sorry again for the late update,and also that there wasn't much action in this one. The purpose of this chapter was to set up the several battles that will be covered during the next few chapters. Expect the next update within the week. Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5: Race Against Time

**A/N: I am so sorry that this chapter is late, I usually only write on the weekends and I had a few guests over all weekend so I couldn't focus on writing and then had school. It also took me longer than expected to think of how to organize the next few chapters. Thank you to all who read this and those who review, I would appreciate more reviews so I can get a better idea of what you all think so far, so Read and Review.**

**Also, this chapter will be from several points of that are all happening simultaneously, I figured I should make this point clear.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter 5: Race Against Time**

"Uryu, behind you!" Chad shouted as he punched a lesser Hollow in the face, effectively shattering its mask and killing it.

Uryu turned around to see a Gillian charging a Cero, he released an arrow at the same time the Cero was fired. The Quincy's arrow proved to be stronger and cut through the Cero and hit the giant Hollow in the head, killing it. "Thanks," Uryu said as he fired a few arrows at a group of lesser Hollows. They had been fighting the Hollows in the city for close to an hour now and there seemed to no end in sight. As soon as they entered the city all of the Hollows ignored their original targets and went after them, not that they were tired, they could keep this up all night if they had to, the sun was just starting to set.

"No problem," Chad replied shortly as he fired a few blasts into another group of Hollows. He paused for a moment and made an observation, _'The only ones attacking us are mostly lesser Hollows. It seems that the Adjuchas are keeping back and observing, and they're making the Gillians stay back as well, except for that last one. That must have been an experiment to see if we would be able to respond to it, they're measuring our ability.' _He was snapped out of thought when more Hollows attacked him.

Uryu had come to a similar conclusion and was observing the Adjuchas on the edges of the battle, they were closely observing the battle. "Let's see how they like observing this," Uryu said quietly as he readied an arrow and suddenly turned toward an Adjuchas and fired. The Adjuchas was caught off guard but managed to dodge the arrow at the last second while shouting a few choice words. _'As I expected, they won't be killed that easily, but they should be no problem when the time comes to deal with them,' _Uryu thought to himself as he fired arrows at more lesser Hollows.

Suddenly everything stopped: the Hollows all stopped what they were doing and looked to the south west, they looked frightened. Chad and Uryu also looked in that direction, sensing two massive reiatsu. "That's Ichigo and Grimmjow," Chad said after a moment.

"Yeah, you're right. It feels like they're fighting each other, and they are very far from the facility," Uryu responded.

"I don't like this, something is not right," Chad said as he brought his attention back to the Hollows.

"Same here, something is definitely wrong," Uryu replied as the Hollows began to attack once more.

* * *

"Growl, Haineko!" Matsumoto shouted as her zanpakutou's blade dissolved into ash and she cut the monster in front of her deeply with it. The battle had been going on for only about twenty minutes but it had been taxing on the Shinigami. Matsumoto herself was fine, none of the experiments were strong enough to pose a serious threat to the lieutenant, but it was a different story when it came to the others: the unit leaders were the 3rd seat officers of their respective squads, they were fine, as were the 4th and 5th seats who were also in the units, but the other Shinigami were even with the monsters or being overwhelmed.

Matsumoto saw one of the Squad 5 members evenly fighting with one of the creatures, and another one sneaking up behind him and she shouted, "Hado number four, White Lightning!" The blast of lightning shot straight through the creatures head, killing it instantly, the Squad 5 member killed the other, oblivious that his life had been in danger. _'That was close, I'm glad there was enough power to kill it even though I skipped the incantation,'_ Matsumoto thought to herself. Another experiment tried to attack her but was cut in half by the almost invisible blades of ash that were around her. She then looked around: There were dead bodies littering the floor, they were mostly experiments that had been slain, but a few Shinigami bodies were there as well, there was fighting everywhere, and every now and then the flash of a demon magic spell was seen. Suddenly, two massive reiatsu could be felt from deep within the compound, and were recognized immediately.

"That's Captain Kurosaki, and Grimmjow!" one of the Squad 5 members shouted as the battle continued, the monsters paid no heed to the massive reiatsu.

"He's using his Bankai, I'd recognize it anywhere!" another shouted nearby.

"But why are they fighting each other?" a third asked.

"Focus on the battle at hand, they wouldn't be fighting unless they had a good reason!" Matsumoto ordered sternly. She then focused harder and could sense her captain, Renji, Izuru, and Lucas further in the facility than Ichigo and Grimmjow. For a moment she prayed that they would be alright, she loved Hitsugaya like a little brother, Izuru was an old friend, Lucas she didn't know very well but she didn't want anything to happen to him, and Renji...she thought about Renji longer than she had the others. She and Renji were good friends, they were very close, and lately they had gotten closer. She couldn't deny that there was something between them, so she prayed for their safety, and added an extra just for him.

* * *

Hitsugaya, Renji, Izuru, and Lucas ran through the halls of the eleventh floor toward the stairs to the next level as quickly as they could, in order to get to Satosuke and kill Ranmyaku before he was supplied with enough reiatsu to awaken. "Their power is amazing, they both just went up considerably," Lucas commented as they ran.

"That's because Grimmjow isn't holding it back anymore, and Ichigo is using his Bankai," Renji replied as they descended the stairs, jumping down flights at a time.

"Bankai?" Lucas asked with a curious expression.

"You're not well informed on Shinigami and our abilities are you?" Renji asked with a laugh.

"I'm afraid I only know the basics: you use swords known as zanpakutou that can transform into their "true" form and increase their power, you can use demon magic, and can use shunpo to move faster than the eye can follow for short bursts," Lucas answered.

"Well the fact you that you know that zanpakutou have a released form makes explaining easier. You see, each zanpakutou is alive and has a spirit and personality all its own, to achieve the Shikai, or first release, a Shinigami must be able to communicate well with their zanpakutou in order to learn its name, for example my zanpakutou's name is Zabimaru. Once the name has been learned the Shinigami can release their zanpakutou and it changes into it's shikai form, once again I'll use Zabimaru as an example, his released form is a large snake sword with a pick on each segment," Renji explained.

"I see, what about Ichigo's zanpakutou?" Lucas asked with curiosity.

"His zanpakutou is special, it is always in its released form: the huge cleaver that he has on his back, its name is Zangetsu," Renji answered. When Lucas nodded he continued, "Anyway, a zanpakutou can be released once more after Shikai, that is called the Bankai. It is very difficult for a Shinigami to achieve Bankai, they have to have a level of control of their zanpakutou to the extent that they can physically manifest its spirit into our world, instead of us going to the zanpakutou's world within our souls, that much control usually only comes from having a massive reiatsu and years, sometimes centuries of experience. After the spirit is manifested the Shinigami must fight and force the zanpakutou into submission, only then can they use Bankai. Because it is so difficult to achieve only a few Shinigami are able to use it."

"That sounds amazing, how many Shinigami can use Bankai?" Lucas asked.

"Currently there are fourteen Shinigami that can use Bankai, and twelve of them are captains of the Gotei 13, the only captain not capable of using Bankai is Captain Zaraki of Squad 11. The other two Bankai users are former captains that reside here on Earth," Hitsugaya answered, deciding to join the conversation as they descended to the thirteenth floor.

"Only fourteen? I thought there would be more than that considering there are thousands of Shinigami. How much stronger is the Bankai than the Shikai?" Lucas asked.

"On average the Bankai increases the user's battle ability five to ten fold, though it differs depending on the person. After the Bankai is achieved it takes about ten years of additional training to completely master using it, this is because the Bankai is a vast expansion of the Shinigami's power, thus resulting in the Bankai's proportions vastly exceeding those of a normal sword, the exception being Ichigo Kurosaki's," Hitsugaya replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucas asked, they were now on the fourteenth floor.

"Ichigo's Bankai is actually a compression of his power, instead of Zangetsu becoming even more massive and threatening looking, it actually transforms into an ordinary katana with a black blade, a black manji guard, a red handle wrapped in black cloth, and a short black chain hanging from the hilt, as the sword "wakes up" as the fight continues it grows to the size of an o-katana. By compressing the entirety of the Bankai into such a small form it allows Ichigo to fight at ultra high speed with the Bankai's full battle capability," Renji explained as they neared the stairs to the fifteenth floor.

"That sounds incredible, I hope I get to see a Bankai," Lucas responded.

"Tell ya what, when this is all over we'll have a few captains demonstrate their Bankai," Renji said with a grin as they reached the fifteenth floor and stopped. This floor looked like a huge arena, and near the door that lead to the next set of stairs there was a man. "What is this place, and who is that?" Renji asked.

"This is the testing arena, as the name suggests it is used to test to abilities of the experiments, and that is Damien," Lucas responded.

They made their way to the center of the arena and stopped, that's when Damien began to speak, "Good to see you Lucas, having fun with your new friends I hope, oh, and welcome Captains Hitsugaya and Abarai, and Lieutenant Izuru."

"What are you doing here? Surely Satosuke didn't send you here to fight us, you're not strong enough to have a chance at winning," Renji said.

"No, I'm not here to fight you, I only came here to meet you, and of course say hello to my old friend," Damien replied with an edge of boredom and disappointment.

"Move aside or we will cut you down and then continue on our way," Hitsugaya warned as he placed his hand on Hyorinmaru's hilt behind his right shoulder.

"Wait, I remember now, Satosuke wanted me to introduce you to two certain somethings," Damien said slowly as he pulled a remote out of his pocket and pushed the button on it.

"Oh no, this is bad, very bad," Lucas said in a quiet voice.

"What? What is it?" Izuru asked nervously.

"Psi and Omega," Lucas replied in an even quieter voice.

After Damien pressed the button two sections of the floor opened and two experiments were raised up on elevator-like platforms, one was about fifteen feet tall almost reptilian in appearance: it had the basic frame of a humanoid body, clawed fingers and toes, black scaled skin, spines along its back, a long tail with spines at the end, blades growing from the underside of each forearm that shot out and retracted as it looked at its prey, a human-like face with long, sharp teeth, glowing red eyes, and what looked like the remains of a Hollow mask on the top left of its face, the mask remains had turned black. The second was much smaller and more humanoid in appearance: it stood at about six and a half feet, had a greenish-black armor-like exoskeleton with shoulder spikes and clawed fingers, a covering over the face similar to a face plate or Hollow mask, the part over the mouth had holes in it, and the eyes glowed eerily with a green light, and from its shoulders grew two black angelic wings which were folded at the moment.

"I'd like you to meet Psi and Omega," Damien said while gesturing to the large reptilian beast and the smaller demonic looking creature respectively. Psi, the huge beast, had a very intimidating presence, while Omega had an eery and threatening presence, boosted by its breathing coming in hisses. "Psi and Omega are the two most successful experiments besides Ranmyaku, of course, they would pale in comparison to him. Psi is at lieutenant level, and Omega is capable of holding his own against an enemy of captain level," Damien said after a moment then directed an order at the experiments, "Don't attack until they attack you, but do not let them pass." With that he turned and descended the stairs.

"Great, what do we do now?" Izuru asked.

"Isn't obvious Izuru?" Renji asked mockingly, when Izuru didn't respond he continued, "You and I stay here and fight these things while Hitsugaya and Lucas keep going and take care of Damien, Satosuke, and Ranmyaku. That's all that can be done right now."

"We can't do that! It would be exactly what they want. He ordered them not to attack until they were attacked, we should think of a way to get around them without fighting, that way Ranmyaku isn't supplied with more reiatsu," Lucas pleaded.

"We don't have time for that, with Uryu and Chad fighting those Hollows, Matsumoto and the squad units fighting the other experiments, and Ichigo and Grimmjow going at it there must be tons of reiatsu pouring into Ranmyaku, which means we're almost out of time. Satosuke outsmarted us, we fell right into his traps, now get ready to run," Renji replied.

Lucas was about to argue but Hitsugaya interjected, "Very well, we shall continue, be careful." Hitsugaya and Lucas then retreated to side of the room to wait for Renji and Izuru to attack, thus supplying them with the distraction they needed.

They both unsheathed their zanpakutou and got into a battle stance, then Renji swung his while shouting, "Howl, Zabimaru!" The snake sword swung in a wide arc in its whip state at Omega, the creature dodge the attack by jumping into the air and using its black angelic wings to fly toward Renji to counter attack.

Izuru then held out one hand and shouted, "Hado number thirty-three, Blue Fire Crash Down!" The blast of blue flame fired at Psi, the beast used its arms to block the attack, then charged at Izuru with its arm blades fully extended. As the two battles commenced, Hitsugaya and Lucas slipped down the stairs unnoticed.

* * *

The barren, serene landscape was disturbed by the sound of steel striking steel, two blurs colliding, vanishing, then colliding again, and shock waves rippling through the air. As Ichigo and Grimmjow collided once more their swords locked for a moment, Grimmjow used this moment to ask, "What's wrong Ichigo? Didn't you say we were skipping the warm up?"

"Heh, guess I lied," Ichigo replied as he forced his sword out of the lock, pushing Grimmjow back in the process.

"Enough with the warm up then," Grimmjow said as he brought his left fist back as if to punch, as he brought his fist forward again Ichigo realized what he was doing and raised Tensa Zangetsu just in time to block a Bala. "Good reaction time, just what I expected from you," Grimmjow said with a grin.

"Two can play that game," Ichigo replied as he quickly swung Tensa Zangetsu and let loose a lower level Getsuga Tenshou. Grimmjow's eyes widened before he blocked the attack. "Good reaction time," Ichigo said as he appeared behind Grimmjow.

Grimmjow turned and fired another Bala at Ichigo, this was blocked and Grimmjow took this split second to use Sonido to get away from Ichigo and his attack, Ichigo then used his boosted Shunpo to dodge his own attack. As they stood in the air about twenty feet apart Grimmjow said, "Nice try, but I won't fall for that trick again, it's one of your signature moves: the first Getsuga Tenshou is a distraction that you use to get behind your opponent where you use a stronger one, thereby sandwiching your opponent between them. I only fell for that once, never again."

"I figured that it wouldn't work on you, was worth a shot though," Ichigo replied with a grin.

"Yeah I guess so, but it's time for some fireworks," Grimmjow said with a grin to match as he used Sonido to move backwards and then charged up a Cero and fired it.

_'Oh shit!'_ Ichigo thought to himself as he saw the Cero approaching. He swung Tensa Zangetsu while shouting, "Getsuga Tenshou!" The full power slash attack and Cero collided and struggled for dominance for a moment before the Getsuga wrapped around the Cero and they both exploded in a blinding flash of red and black. As the flash cleared, Ichigo and Grimmjow were revealed, both with a slash to their chests, they had both used the explosion as cover to land an attack, they didn't notice that Grimmjow's pocket had been cut and his rejuvenation capsule fell to the ground and shattered. "Damn...bastard...that was...reckless," Ichigo panted.

"Didn't...think that...you'd attack too," Grimmjow panted in reply. After a moment they regained their composure and Grimmjow said, "It looks like we're still about even."

"Yeah, looks that way, after all these years, all that training, we're still evenly matched," Ichigo replied in agreement.

"Then I guess it's time we take this to the next level," Grimmjow said as he held his sword at an angle in front of him.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he asked, "Wait, you're not gonna release are you?"

"Hell yeah," Grimmjow replied. His zanpakutou glowed blue as he shouted, "Grind, Pantera!" There was a flash of light before Grimmjow appeared in his released form with a smirk on his face.

"You're really serious about this, I had hoped that we wouldn't take it this far," Ichigo said as he passed his hand in font of his face, donning his mask, his voice changing midway through the sentence. Grimmjow only smiled in response, and Ichigo smiled behind his mask as they prepared for round two.

* * *

Rukia sat on a bench in the Gate's plaza, Kaien and Masaki occupying themselves with the gifts that Karin and Yuzu had brought them: Kaien had gotten a rubix cube along with some other puzzles including metal puzzle rings, they brought him these because he liked to challenge his mind. Masaki had gotten several coloring books along with packages of crayons and colored pencils. Rukia would watch them for few moments and then return her gaze to the Gate. Ichigo and the others had only been gone for a little over an hour, but she couldn't help it, she was nervous because she wasn't there to watch his back.

Momo walked into the plaza and saw Rukia sitting there and walked up to her, when she got closer she asked, "Rukia, what are you doing here?"

"Oh nothing really, just thinking about some stuff. Would you like to sit down?" Rukia replied as she looked up at Momo.

Momo nodded and sat down, they sat quietly for a few minutes before Momo said quietly so that Kaien and Masaki wouldn't hear her, "You don't have to act tough Rukia, it's alright to be worried about Ichigo, he's your husband and you love him, it's normal to be worried."

Rukia looked over at her children to make sure they hadn't heard before replying, "I know, you're right, I am worried about him, even though I know he's more than capable of taking care of himself. I think the main reason I'm worried is because I'm not there to watch his back, during the war and even on normal missions we were always together and we watched each other's backs, protected each other. It makes me nervous not being able to do that."

"I understand what you mean, I'm worried about Toshirou as well, though I know he can take care of himself, and the others are with him and can help him if he needs it. We just have to believe in them, as strong as they all are, they'll be fine," Momo said with a smile.

Rukia smiled in return, she then felt a tug on her sleeve, she looked down and saw Kaien and Masaki looking up at her. "Don't worry mom, dad is really strong, he can beat whoever tries to fight him," Kaien said.

"Yeah, daddy is strong, so are Uncle Renji, Uryu, Chad, and Grimmjow, they'll win," Masaki added.

"I know your dad is strong, but I can't help but worry about him," Rukia replied as she embraced her son and daughter.

"An understandable feeling," an emotionless voice said from behind them. They turned to see none other than Byakuya Kuchiki standing there.

"Brother, what are you doing here?" Rukia asked.

"I was simply out for an evening walk and found you here and couldn't help but over hear your conversation, I didn't mean to intrude," Byakuya replied.

"Uncle Byakuya!" Masaki cheered as she ran up and hugged his leg.

"Hello Masaki, I trust you are well," Byakuya greeted with a slight smile tugging at his mouth as he placed a hand on his niece's head. When Masaki nodded he turned his face to Kaien and asked, "And you Kaien?"

"I'm alright, but mom is really worried about dad," Kaien said.

"I expected as much," Byakuya replied. He then turned to face Rukia again before saying, "You need not worry about Ichigo, he is a man of his word, in the twenty-five years I have known him he has not broken a single promise that he has made."

"What do you mean brother?" Rukia asked quietly.

"Ichigo swore to you that he would return, did he not?" Byakuya asked in his cold voice.

"Yes, he did," Rukia replied in a quiet voice.

"Then you have nothing to fear, he will return as he promised," Byakuya answered as he turned and walked away.

Rukia was stunned that her brother had actually tried to comfort her fears, and had succeeded. Before he got too far away she said in a clear voice, "Thank you, brother." Byakuya allowed himself a small smile as he walked away.

**A/N: Once again sorry for the late update, the next chapter will focus on the fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow, Renji and Izuru vs Omega and Psi, and Hitsugaya and Lucas will confront Satosuke and Damien. Also, Psi is pronounced as "sigh", figured I'd make that clear since Psi and Omega are the last letters of the Greek alphabet and the pronunciation might not be common knowledge. Please Review!**


	6. Chapter 6: Hitsugaya's Death

**A/N: I am so so so sooooo sorry about the late update, I finally got a job and haven't had much time to work on this. I will try to update sooner from now on. Other than that, not much else to say. Read and Review please.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter Six: Hitsugaya's Death**

Omega swatted Zabimaru away as Renji tried to get it from the side and then flew in to attack Renji with its claws, which was dodged and countered with a quick slash with Zabimaru in its sword form. Omega's exoskeleton proved too strong however and the attack glanced off harmlessly and Omega backed away.

"I guess you're too tough for that to work, gotta actually put some reiatsu into the attacks to hurt you huh?" Renji asked with a smirk, only getting a hiss in response. Renji focused a large amount of his reiatsu into Zabimaru, causing it to glow with a red light and lashed out with a whip strike, Omega dodging it, but not completely and a gash appeared on its exoskeleton along with a spurt of green liquid and a hiss of pain. "Got ya that time!" Renji shouted as he swung once more, with a quick flap of its wings Omega avoided the attack and landed a spin kick on Renji's head, sending him flying to the side and hitting a wall.

Omega let out a hiss that could almost be called a laugh as Renji stood back up and said, "Alright, that one hurt you bastard." Renji then sent Zabimaru shooting forward, Omega side stepped it, but by making the sword's segments bounce off the walls several times from several angles Renji managed to land a few deep cuts on Omega. "Didn't dodge that did ya?" Renji asked arrogantly as Omega fell down and panted while bleeding from several wounds.

Renji rested Zabimaru on his shoulder while he looked at Omega disappointingly and said, "You're not as tough as they made you out to be, I'm disappointed actually." Omega then quickly stood up as its reiatsu shot up and it held one hand out and open towards Renji as a black orb formed in it. Renji's eyes widened as he said, "Oh shit." With that a black blast similar to a Cero fired from Omega's hand and hit Renji, who had put Zabimaru up to block the front of the attack.

For several moments Omega watched the dust from the blast settle, suddenly a red light engulfed the room as Renji shouted, "Bankai!" The red light took the form of a giant snake skeleton and the dust cleared to reveal Renji holding the end of the skeleton's tail, wearing the fur cloak, and bleeding from several places. "Hihio Zabimaru. Let's see how good you do against this," Renji said seriously as he swung his Bankai in a wide arc. The head of the snake kept attacking Omega and circling around it, so before Omega knew what was happening it was surrounded by the massive skeleton on all sides. In a flash, the skeleton constricted on Omega and began to crush it, Omega struggled for several moments before it let loose an intense wave of reiatsu and seemingly shattering the skeleton into segments. The segments hovered in the air and began to glow red as Renji shouted, "Nice try, but not good enough, Higa Zekko!" With that all the segments flew towards Omega and made mince meat of it, and it dropped to the ground, still breathing.

Omega glared at Renji and hissed as the skeleton reformed and a sphere of reiatsu began to form in its mouth. "You can hiss at me all you want, but it's over. Hikotsu Taiho," Renji said loudly. The huge blast shot out and engulfed Omega, destroying it completely. As Zabimaru reverted to its sealed form, Renji looked over in time to see the end of the fight between Izuru and Psi.

* * *

Izuru dodged and blocked several slashes from Psi's arm blades and counter attacked with a few of his own, these too were blocked. Psi then let loose a barrage of energy blasts from its mouth which Izuru had to use Shunpo to dodge, and then countered with a slash to Psi's stomach area, only to have the blade glance off harmlessly.

"Your hide is tougher than it should be if you're Lieutenant level, must be the experiments, let's try this," Izuru said as he pointed at Psi. He then shouted, "Hado number four, White Lightning!" The blast of lightning shot forward and Psi dodged it, mostly, Psi's arm was hit slightly and its hide was easily pierced by the blast. _'It's vulnerable to kido, that means that if I can get a direct hit I can kill it, but it's too fast for me to get a direct hit, unless...' _Izuru thought to himself. He then held his zanpakutou out and said, "Raise your head and prepare to die, Wabisuke." With that said, Wabisuke entered its Shikai state.

Psi roared and charged again, Izuru also charged in and blocked Psi's initial attack and retaliated with several slashes at Psi's arm blades, hitting each ten times. They parted for a moment and when Psi tried to attack again, its arms crashed to ground and was unable to move. "It's over abomination, both of your arm blades are now 1024 times heavier (yes that's right, I did the math)," Izuru said as he walked up to Psi's head and pointed at the center of its forehead. "Hado number four, White Lightning," Izuru said as the blast shot at point blank went straight through Psi's head, killing it instantly.

Izuru walked over to Renji, who seemed to be having trouble standing and asked, "Are you alright?"

"That thing's attack packed more of a punch than I thought, I can barely move all of a sudden," Renji replied as he made his way to the stairs to the sixteenth floor, only to be stopped by a force field. "What the hell?" he asked angrily.

"It seems that we can not proceed any further, perhaps we should we should exit the facility and treat your wounds," Izuru suggested.

"Not much else we can do at this point, we have to leave it to Hitsugaya and Lucas," Renji admitted as they made their way back to the other stairs. When they reached the top he exclaimed, "What the fuck?!" They found themselves outside the facility, in the city they had left Uryu and Chad at. They turned around but the stairs they had come up were gone. "Damn it all to hell," he muttered under his breath.

"Renji, Izuru!" a female voice shouted from their left, they turned and saw Matsumoto along with the Squad 5 and 10 units.

"What are you doing here?" Izuru asked as they made their way over to her.

"After we finished with those creatures, we tried going further in, but were stopped by a barrier, we came up the stairs and found ourselves here, same as you," Matsumoto replied. When she saw Renji she asked in a concerned tone, "What happend to you?"

"I'll be fine, got hit by something comparable to a Cero, but no serious damage," Renji replied with an arrogant smirk, then winced in pain. "Where are Uryu and Chad?" he asked before she could say anything.

"By the time we got here they had already dealt with all the Hollows and already on their way to the facility. And we just recieved orders to stay here and leave the rest to those that are already there," Matsumoto explained.

"I see," Renji replied shortly.

* * *

The landscape was littered with craters as the two warriors continued to exchange powerful, earth shaking attacks. Grimmjow swung his tail like a whip, Ichigo dodged and the tail hit the ground creating a decent sized crater, Ichigo countered with with a swing of his sword and let loose a Getsuga, Grimmjow used Sonido to dodge resulting in the attack destroying a large rock formation. Grimmjow launched a few Dartas from his arm, Ichigo dodged using Shunpo and the ground where he had been standing exploded as the projectiles collided with it.

Once he was above Grimmjow, Ichigo sent another Getsuga at him, and Grimmjow fired a Bala at the same time, the attacks passed each other and hit their targets head on. The hit caused Ichigo to drop Tensa Zangetsu, and before he could retrieve it Grimmjow charged and it became a fist fight, Ichigo aimed an upper cut at Grimmjow's jaw which was dodged and countered by a roundhouse kick which was blocked by Ichigo. Ichigo then quickly jabbed Grimmjow in the face, to which Grimmjow retaliated by punching Ichigo in the gut, Ichigo aimed another punch at him but his fist was caught in midair, as was Grimmjow's a second later. Now unable to punch each other, they began to knee each other in the gut until they blocked each other again. Ichigo then surprised Grimmjow by slamming his forehead into his, causing some pain, Grimmjow head butted him back and the fight continued as such, Ichigo having a slight advantage because of his mask covering his face and forehead.

After a minute or two they parted and put some considerable distance between them and Grimmjow said, "That mask of yours really hurts ya know."

"Sorry about that," Ichigo replied sarcastically.

"Yeah I bet you are, let's see how you deal with this without your sword," Grimmjow said while charging up a Cero.

"Like this," Ichigo replied simply as he pointed his left pointer and middle finger at Grimmjow and charged a Cero up. Grimmjow's eyes widened before they both fired their Ceros, the blasts collided and fought for dominance for several moments, both Ichigo and Grimmjow putting more reiatsu into their attacks until they finally exploded in a huge flash of red light and a huge shock-wave that blew boulders away and flattened trees. As the lighting returned to normal, both were on the ground, Ichigo having retrieved his sword.

"When the hell did you learn how to use Ceros?" Grimmjow asked in a frustrated tone.

"Not too long after you went back to Hueco Mundo a few months ago," Ichigo replied proudly.

Grimmjow smirked after a moment and said, "You just keep getting stronger and stronger, this is why you're my rival, whenever I think I have the advantage, you pull out a new trick. I absolutely love it." With that his reiatsu surged up and became a visible aura.

Ichigo's reiatsu flared up in response, also becoming visible as he replied, "Same here." They then charged in and the fight resumed.

* * *

Hitsugaya and Lucas were on the nineteenth floor and quickly approaching the stairs to the twentieth and final floor of the complex. Niether had spoken a word since they left Renji and Izuru to fight Omega and Psi. "It's over, they beat them," Lucas said as he sensed Omega and Psi die.

"Yes, they have, but that just means that Ranmyaku is that much closer to awakening," Hitsugaya replied as they began to descend the stairs. When they reached the bottom of the stairs they saw that this floor was only one room, with Ranmyaku's stasis tank in the center, and a wall of surveillance screens on one wall with a chair in front of it. Satosuke and Damien were standing infront of the tank.

"Ah, it's so nice to finally meet you Captain Hitsugaya, I hope you have enjoyed your visit so far," Satosuke in a cheerful and polite tone.

"I wish I could say the same," Hitsugaya replied darkly.

"That's too bad," Satosuke said shortly.

"Why are you doing this? What could you possibly hope to accomplish?" Hitsugaya asked in a demanding voice.

"I'm sure that Lucas has already filled you in on my plan, but I'll tell you anyway. I've spent the last decade and a half trying to create the ultimate life form, a being of such power that nothing could stand against it. Once it was finished I would use it to enslave both the mortal world and Soul Society, and anyone that stood in my way would meet their end at the hands of my creation," Satosuke replied with a sadistic laugh.

"How do expect to control something like that?" Hitsugaya asked.

"I guess ya left that part out Lucas, Ranmyaku, like all the other experiments have been programmed to obey our orders," Damien cut in.

"That is correct, they are programmed to obey our orders, Ranmyaku is no different," Satosuke confirmed.

"We're going to stop you and stop the awakening," Lucas said as he took a piece of metal from his pocket and it morphed into a long double edged sword.

"That's right," Hitsugaya agreed as he unsheathed his zanpakutou.

Suddenly there was a huge pulse of reiatsu from the tank along with a brief flash of light. Satosuke grinned like a madman before saying, "Looks like you're too late, that conversation we just had bought Ranmyaku the last few minutes he needed. It's time for him to wake up." With that he pushed a button on a remote he pulled from his pocket and the room warped, when it returned to normal they were outside the facility, near its entrance. Satosuke then pressed another button and the tank began to open and there was another pulse of reiatsu, this one so intense that it forced Hitsugaya to his knees and was felt by every spiritually aware being on the planet.

* * *

Ichigo and Grimmjow stopped in mid-attack as they felt the huge reiatsu and turned to face the source which was 100 miles away. "You feel that too right?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, how could I not?" Grimmjow asked in return.

"Damn it, we gave it too much of our power by fighting each other, and it feels like only Lucas and Hitsugaya are there," Ichigo said as he stabbed the ground.

"Renji and the others are back in the city, and Uryu and Chad are on their way to where that thing is," Grimmjow said after a moment of concentrating.

"We need to figure out a way to get there and fast," Ichigo stated, Grimmjow nodded.

* * *

Rukia, Kaien, Masaki, and Momo were still sitting on a bench in the Gate's plaza. They had just been sitting and talking about one thing or another, trying to reassure the other that their friends and loved ones would be alright without coming right out and saying it.

Suddenly Masaki looked at the Gate and whimpered before asking, "Mommy, what's happening?"

Rukia and Momo looked at the Gate to see that is was glowing and what looked like static electricity was shooting across the open air between the posts. "Oh my..." Rukia began but was cut off as the Gate suddenly opened and became a giant vacuum, sucking the air towards it. Rukia grabbed Kaien and Masaki and held them tightly as they began to slide toward the Gate.

They began to slowly make their way away from the Gate, since the suction made moving quickly in the opposite direction impossible. Suddenly Kaien slipped from Rukia's grasp and as he flew towards the Gate he shouted, "Mom!"

"Kaien!" Rukia shouted in horror as her son was sucked into the Gate, almost immediately the Gate closed again. Rukai ran up to it shouting Kaien's name over and over again with tears in her eyes.

Half an hour later, after several attempts to open the Gate, Captain Yamamoto shook his head slightly and turned to Rukia. "I'm sorry, but for some reason the Gate has been destabilized, it won't be able to be opened until it is re-calibrated, which could take until tomorrow. They're on their own," he said grimly. Rukia burst into tears again.

* * *

Uryu and Chad were about halfway to the facility when the huge pulse of reiatsu hit them and stopped them in their tracks. "That can't be good, Ranmyaku must have been awakened," Chad said as he regained his composure.

"Yeah, that couldn't have been anything else," Uryu replied. He then sensed something else, much closer to them, he looked up and saw what looked like the Soul Society's Gate opening in the sky, but it looked unstable. Suddenly something shot out of it and it closed. He recognized the reiatsu coming from whatever had come out of the Gate, which now identified as a person. Once it was close enough he used his Shunpo equivalent to catch the person in midair and rolled to minimize the impact as he landed. As he looked at the young boy he had caught out of the air and asked, "Kaien, are you alright?"

Kaien looked up at him and responded, "Uncle Uryu? I think I'm okay, but what happened and where are we?"

"We're in the mortal world, you must have been sucked through the Gate and ended up here," Uryu replied calmly.

"Why would the Gate go hay-wire like that?" Chad asked as he looked up to where the Gate had appeared.

Uryu looked up and then to the source of the huge pulse of reiatsu and thought for a moment. "Well, I'd have to say that the Gate's target point of appearance being so close to the source of that pulse destabilized it, that's the only reason I can think of," he said after a moment of thought.

"Hmm," Chad grunted in response. "What should we do now, I mean about Kaien," he asked after a moment.

"We'll have to take him with us, we don't have any choice. We have to get there right away and help Hitsugaya and Lucas, you'll have to hide and stay clear of the fight Kaien," Uryu replied, directing the last part at Kaien.

"Alright, I understand," Kaien said. With that they began to make their way to the scene of the awakening, still a considerable distance away.

* * *

After the initial surge of power the tank exploded, Hitsugaya and Lucas were straining to see what was within the swirling dust, and Satosuke and Damien were standing to side and grinning. After what felt like an eternity, the dust cleared and the creature was revealed: it was about six feet tall, jet black skin with red stripes and swirls, clawed fingers, arms that seemed a bit too long, toe-less feet that almost looked like it was wearing pointed boots, a humanoid head with holes for ears and no visible nose, black corneas and red irisis in the eyes, and elongated canine teeth.

"Damn it, we failed," Lucas said under his breath as he shook slightly in fear.

"Are you sure it was a success Satosuke? He looks a lot weaker than I thought he would, not too mention he's probably completely retarded," Damien scoffed.

Ranmyaku turned to him and in a deep, raspy voice said, "No make fun me."

Damien let loose a laugh be fore exclaiming, "He even talks like a retard! And what are you gonna do if I keep making fun of you?"

Ranmyaku growled at him before Satosuke said, "Well Ranmyaku, don't let him talk to you like that, show him wat happens when somebody insults you." Damien's eyes widened in shock as Ranmyaku grinned in delight. Before Damien could utter a single word Ranmyaku covered the distance between them in a split second and punched him in the gut, causing him to spit up blood, then formed a blast of reiatsu in his hand and fired it, sending Damien into a rock formation 200 meters away where the blast exploded violently. "Well that takes care of him," Satosuke said when the explosion ended.

"You monster," Hitsugaya growled as he watched the startling event.

"Call me what you will, Damien was just a tool who was too arrogant for his own good, it had to be done sooner or later," Satosuke replied.

Suddenly Lucas let loose a battle cry and charged at Ranmyaku and swung at his waist, only to have the sword shatter on contact not leaving so much as a scratch. Ranmyaku began to counter with a punch but was interrupted by Hitsugaya roundhouse kicking him in the face which caused him to skid backwards about ten feet and Hitsugaya took an offensive stance between Lucas and Ranmyaku.

Ranmyaku slowly turned his head to face Hitsugaya with a scowl, his face indented, but right before their eyes it returned to normal without so much as a scratch. "What? I put a large amount of reiatsu into that kick, and it didn't even faze him," Hitsugaya said in shock. Ranmyaku grinned again as his reiatsu went up.

"Captain Hitsugaya, we must retreat, not even you can beat him by yourself, you'll die if you try. We need to get out of here and regroup with the the others," Lucas said quietly as he watched Ranmyaku warily.

"You're right, we need help to take this thing down," Hitsugaya said quickly as he turned, grabbed Lucas, and used Shunpo to escape into the air. When they got a quarter of a mile away and 500 feet up Hitsugaya stopped in his tracks and said, "No way." There in front of them was Ranmyaku, glaring at them. In the blink of an eye he had punched Hitsugaya straight down into the ground with such force that the ground practically exploded.

Lucas remained in the air with Ranmyaku and stared at him in fear, then let loose a barrage of punches and kicks, none of which even made Ranmyaku flinch. Ranmyaku grabbed Lucas by the head and punched him repeatedly, when he let go Lucas was barely able to remain standing. Lucas then out of desperation put both hands out with the palms facing Ranmyaku and let loose all the reiastu he could afford to use up into one blast, when the light cleared, Ranmyaku wasn't hurt at all. Ranmyaku then grinned and put one hand out towards Lucas and released some his own reiatsu, it wasn't a visible blast but Lucas screamed in pain as he shot back towards Satosuke, hit the ground, and skidded the length of a football field before stopping near Satosuke.

Satosuke walked over to Lucas and mockingly said, "Welcome back Lucas, I hope he didn't hurt you too badly. Lucas couldn't do anymore than open his eyes and glare at Satosuke. Suddenly Ranmyaku was by his side and Satosuke ordered, "Now finish him off." Ranmyaku raised his arm in preparation to deal the finishing blow with his claws when an orb of red fire crashed into him, not hurting, but enough to draw his attention to the side.

"You didn't think you were rid of me did you?" Hitsugaya asked as he held his zanpakutou at the ready, ignoring the blood in his eyes from a head wound.

"Ranmyaku, kill Lucas, then deal with the annoying captain," Satosuke said dismissively.

"No, I don't think so, this ends now. Bankai!" Hitsugaya shouted as a flash of ice blue light engulfed him and the temperature dropped noticeably. When the light cleared Hitsugaya appeared with the huge ice wings, ice dragon claws on his feet, the head and neck covering his sword arm, and long icy tail (the flowers are gone because he has fully mastered his Bankai, therefore there is no longer a time limit). "Daiguren Hyorinmaru," Hitsugaya said loudly before he charged at Ranmyaku.

Ranmyaku shifted his hand so his palm was facing the charging captain. Lucas saw what was about to happen and shouted to Hitsugaya, "Watch out for his blast!" Before Hitsugaya could react, a bright light erupted from Ranmyaku's open palm, it didn't cause any damage but slowed Hitsugaya down as he drew closer, when he was less then five feet away from Ranmyaku the blast solidified and Hitsugaya screamed in pain as he was engulfed by the attack and it soared into the sky and miles away where it exploded, lighting up the entire sky.

"And that's the end of you!" Satosuke exclaimed. He then continued by cheering, "If a captain using Bankai can be beaten by Ranmyaku so easily, nothing will get in my way!"

* * *

At the exact moment Satosuke was celebrating Ranmyaku's power, every other member of the attack forced stopped in their tracks and stared disbelievingly in the direction of the battle, and all were thinking the same thing: they couldn't sense Hitsugaya's reiatsu anymore, it was gone.

**A/N: Once again I'm sorry about the late update. Two things to say: 1) With the exception of Hitsugaya and Nel, all of the spirit characters look pretty much the same as they do in the show and manga now, Ichigo included. And 2) To all Hitsugaya fans...Don't kill me! Hitsugaya is one of my favorite characters as well, and I know people will be upset about me killing him off. Until the next update, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please Review.**


	7. Chapter 7: Sacrifice

**A/N: Sorry about this taking so long, but I've been very busy lately and this had to take a backseat to the rest of my life. Nothing else to say, read and please review.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter Seven: Sacrifice**

When Hitsugaya's reiatsu vanished, Ichigo and Grimmjow both turned to look in the direction where they had last sensed him and closed their eyes to focus. After a moment Grimmjow opened his eyes and stated, "Nothing, not even a trace of his reiatsu."

"Damnit! Damn it all to hell!" Ichigo shouted as he stabbed the ground. He then walked over to the stairway and repeatedly tried to get past the barrier, only to fail every time. "Grimmjow, we need to figure out a way to get through it, and now," Ichigo said as he swung Tensa Zangetsu at the barrier again.

Grimmjow watched him for a moment while trying to think of something, eventually he came to a conclusion: there was only one way. He walked up behind Ichigo and said, "Ichigo."

"Yeah, what is it?" Ichigo asked without turning around.

"Sorry," Grimmjow replied. Ichigo's eyes widened right before Grimmjow struck him in the back of the head, as he fell his mask shattered as he lost consciousness, and landed with a thud. A moment after he landed, the barrier shattered. Grimmjow reached for his rejuvenation capsule, only to find that it was gone, after a quick double check he flipped Ichigo over and took his capsule while saying, "I'll be taking this, probably need it more than you do anyway."

Grimmjow tossed the pill down his throat quickly,and within seconds all his injuries were healed and his reiatsu returned to maximum. He then turned to look down the staircase and thought, _'Now how should I make my entrance?'_

* * *

After they stopped in their tracks after feeling Hitsugaya's reiatsu vanish, Uryu and Chad, Kaien being carried by Chad, made their way to the scene of the fight as quickly as they could. As they were running Chad asked, "Do you think he's alive Uryu?"

"I don't know, I can't sense him at all. There is a chance though, like back in Hueco Mundo when we went to save Orihime, and Rukia's reiatsu vanished, she was hurt so badly that her reiatsu dropped dramatically and we couldn't sense her, but she was alive. Then again, she only survived because she got treatment right away," Uryu replied.

"I see. Uryu, if that thing could beat Captain Hitsugaya so easily, what chance do we have?" Chad asked solemnly.

"To be honest, we probably wouldn't fair much better, but we know not to underestimate this thing, and we have teamwork on our side," Uryu replied just as solemnly.

After a moment they arrived at a large ridge, they could sense Ranmyaku, Satosuke, and Lucas on the other side. They made their way to a spot where they could look down and survey the situation. They saw Ranmyaku and Satosuke standing above Lucas, preparing to finish him off when Ranmyaku was suddenly impaled by a long, sharp spike.

* * *

"Well now that the Shinigami is out of the picture, finish Lucas off," Satosuke ordered. Ranmyaku prepared the finishing blow when he was suddenly impaled by a long spike. "What the hell?!" Satosuke exclaimed. He then turned to face behind Ranmyaku and saw Damien standing near the rock structure he had been blasted into, his right arm extended, his left hanging uselessly at his side, and with several severe injuries which made him unsteady on his feet.

"So you're alive. For your sake, that had better of been aimed at Lucas," Satosuke stated loudly.

"You...bastard...I'll...kill you," Damien said in between gasps for air. His eyes widened when he saw Ranmyaku pull the spike from his body and the wound closed up almost immediately.

From where Uryu, Chad, and Kaien were watching Uryu exclaimed, "What the hell?!"

Ranmyaku turned to face Damien and said, "Me kill you." Before Damien could react, Ranmyaku was in his face and landed a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, the force of which spun Damien's head 180 degrees, killing him instantly, and sent him back into the rock formation which then collapsed on his body.

"Good work, now back to the matter of our friend Lucas here," Satosuke stated. Before Ranmyaku could get back over though, a huge explosion ripped the ground apart, the epicenter was the entrance to the facility, a large red colored blast of reiatsu being the cause. "What the hell happened to my facility?!" Satosuke exclaimed as he looked at the billowing smoke.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Not exactly the most discreet way to get somewhere, but it was fast, and fun," a voice answered from the smoke. As the smoke cleared, Grimmjow was revealed standing in midair, with his trade-mark smirk on his face.

"You're that Arrancar, Grimmjow. I take it that's your true form," Satosuke stated in annoyance.

"And you're Satosuke, the pretentious bastard who caused this whole mess," Grimmjow replied. Ignoring Satosuke's glare of irritation, Grimmjow turned to glare at Ranmyaku and said, "I take it you are Ranmyaku, which means you're the one who killed Hitsugaya."

"I suppose you're here kill me and-" Satosuke began but was cut off by Grimmjow.

"Shut your mouth. You think I'm here to kill you? Don't flatter yourself. Ranmyaku is my only concern now, at this point you are insignificant and can be dealt with at any time," Grimmjow stated simply.

"You mouthy son of a bitch! Kill him Ranmyaku!" Satosuke ordered.

Ranmyaku grinned and turned to face Grimmjow completely, and received a fist in the face and let out a grunt of pain. Grimmjow had closed the gap between them, not wanting to let Ranmyaku have the first attack. Before Ranmyaku could react to the punch, Grimmjow landed a spin kick his abdomen, then a back handed punch to the side of his face to cancel out the momentum of the kick, and then an upward spin kick to the chin which launched him straight up into the air.

Ranmyaku spun in the air to stabilize himself and fired a blast down at Grimmjow, as he looked down into the dust, Grimmjow attacked from above with a drop kick to the head, then got in front of him and landed a two foot kick to the spine to send him back up into the air. Appearing in front of Ranmyaku again, Grimmjow spun himself like a gyroscope, landing several hits with his fists, elbow blades, and tail before a straight punch sending Ranmyaku hurtling backwards. Using another Sonido Grimmjow got in front of him again and landed a two handed swing sending Ranmyaku straight into the ground, followed by a quick Cero.

"...Ranmyaku?" Satosuke muttered in shock.

After a moment Ranmyaku flew upward out of the dust, Grimmjow and the others noticed that there was barely a scratch on him, and began his counter attack. He went for a kick to the waist which Grimmjow blocked, then a punch to the face which Grimmjow easily dodged while shouting, "You're too damn slow!" Grimmjow let loose a rapid barrage of punches to the gut, after a moment Ranmyaku aimed a kick at Grimmjow's gut, which Grimmjow hopped over and immediately went into a rapid spin and landed a downward kick on Ranmyaku's skull. Ranmyaku aimed another punch at him, but with a flick of the wrist Grimmjow released a Bala to divert the attack and countered with a punch to Ranmyaku's face. Grimmjow then went for a downward swing but Ranmyaku caught him by the upper arm, so Grimmjow's elbow was pointing at Ranmyaku's face. "Wrong move buddy," Grimmjow stated as he fired five Dartas into Ranmyaku's face. The creature screamed in pain, then Grimmjow grabbed him by the face and darted towards the ground and dragged his face along the ground before tossing him along the ground and firing another Cero, he then did a midair back flip to cancel out his momentum and stood on the ground waiting.

"Ranmyaku, do something, you're losing," Satosuke muttered to himself.

"Grimmjow is unreal when he fights in his released form," Chad stated as they watched the battle.

"Yeah, Uncle Grimmjow's gonna beat that thing!" Kaien cheered excitedly.

"It would certainly seem that Grimmjow has the advantage, but two things are bothering me. The first, after Grimmjow's initial set of attacks Ranmyaku had virtually no damage on him, he probably healed himself like when he was impaled, he has inconcievable regenerative capabilities. The other is that during Grimmjow's initial attacks, Ranmyaku couldn't react at all, but just now he was able to block and counter a bit," Uryu spoke his observation.

"I noticed that as well," Chad added.

"What does that mean?" Kaien asked as he glanced between them.

"It means that Ranmyaku may be adapting to Grimmjow's speed, which could be very bad," Uryu replied.

"Then shouldn't you and Uncle Chad go help him?" Kaien asked worriedly.

"Believe me Kaien, we would if we could," Chad replied.

"What do you mean?" Kaien asked.

"What he means is that both Grimmjow and Ranmyaku are much stronger than us. If we were to try to help him, we'd only get in his way, and likely get caught in the crossfire. Besides, Grimmjow doesn't like working in a team, I'm pretty sure the only person he'd fight together with is your father," Uryu explained. Before any further conversation could start, the fight resumed.

Ranmyaku shot out of the ground behind Grimmjow and landed a kick to the side of his head, Grimmjow did a flip to stabilize himself and counter attacked with a punch to the face, then aimed a kick to Ranmyaku's gut, which was blocked by Ranmyaku grabbing Grimmjow's leg and throwing him into the air. Ranmyaku charged at Grimmjow and aimed a punch to the gut, which Grimmjow dodged and countered with a kick to the head followed by a hit with his tail. Ranmyaku brushed the attacks off and continued to attack by landing an upper cut to Grimmjow's chest. While Grimmjow was temporarily stunned, Ranmyaku grabbed his tail and flung him to the side and fired another blast at him, Grimmjow avoided it by using Sonido and landed a solid punch to Ranmyaku's spine and let loose a barrage of Balas. Ranmyaku took all the attacks, unable to block them, then vanished and reappeared above Grimmjow and landed a kick to his face which sent him flying backwards, Ranmyaku then launched another blast, this one hit it's target.

"Did you see that?" Chad asked in shock.

"Yes, it's just as I feared, that thing is actually learning how to fight as it's fighting Grimmjow. The fact that it is now capable of fighting evenly with Grimmjow coupled with it's regenerative abilities, Grimmjow might not be able to win," Uryu replied solemnly.

"Uncle Grimmjow," Kaien muttered as he watched the fight and listened to Uryu.

"Yes! That's how you do it Ranmyaku!" Satosuke cheered from the ground below the battle.

Grimmjow suddenly charged out of the smoke with a fully charged Cero in his hand, got above Ranmyaku and fired it at point blank range, Ramyaku couldn't react fast enough and was engulfed by the attack as it slammed into the ground and exploded. Grimmjow stood in the air panting, he was tiring, and Ranmyaku's attacks had inflicted more damage than the others thought. After a moment Ranmyaku flew out of the smoke and hovered in front of Grimmjow, he had several cuts and wounds on his body, and his left arm was entirely gone. Grimmjow smirked at this, but before he could say anything, Ranmyaku's wounds healed, and his left arm completely grew back. He now stood there, looking as if he had never been attacked. "Damnit, what the hell does it take to make you stay down?" Grimmjow asked in irritation.

"You just don't get it do you? Ranmyaku is the ultimate being, you couldn't possibly inflict any lasting damage on him, let alone kill him," Satosuke said as he appeared in the air near them.

"Oh yeah? Well we'll see about that!" Grimmjow replied as he bit his thumb and flung some of his blood in the air infront of his open palm.

"What are you doing?" Satosuke asked, then his eyes widened as a massive amount of blue reiatsu gathered in Grimmjow's palm.

"Gran Rey Cero!" Grimmjow shouted as he fired the massively powerful blast at Ranmyaku, who was quickly engulfed by the attack. After a few moments, the smoke cleared and Ranmyaku's waist and legs were revealed, minus anything that should have been above the waist. "Got ya," Grimmjow stated.

"Yes! Way to show him Uncle Grimmjow!" Kaien cheered from his post on the ridge with Chad and Uryu.

"Do you think he'll be able to regenerate from that?" Chad wispered so Kaien couldn't hear him.

"I don't know, I hope not though, after using that much reiatsu in one attack, I doubt Grimmjow could fight much longer," Uryu replied just as quietly.

After a moment what was left of Ranmyaku's body twitched, Grimmjow's eyes narrowed as he noticed this, then widened as Ranmyaku completely regenerated. Grimmjow was rendered speechless.

"No way!" Kaien shouted.

"God damn him," Chad and Uryu both growled at the same time.

"What did I tell you? Ranmyaku, show him what you can really do," Satosuke ordered simply. Ranmyaku grinned at this, and before Grimmjow could react, Ranmyaku's arm had extended and wrapped around him several times and was constricting him like a snake. Ranmyaku dragged him down to the ground and repeatedly slammed him into the ground, then sent reiatsu through the arm in a form similar to electricity and began to electrocute Grimmjow, he couldn't contain the scream of pain that this brought about.

Kaien was shaking while he watched this, and Uryu had to grab his shoulders to keep him from charging in.

After a few moments, Ranmyaku stopped the torture and withdrew his arm which returned to it's normal size, Grimmjow did not get up, but managed to roll over onto his back. Faster than any of them could follow, Ranmyaku was squatting over Grimmjow, and smirked before letting loose a barrage of punches to Grimmjow's face, first the left, then the right, and so on in this pattern. Satosuke's laughs echoed throughout the area as he watched this unfold.

After a few moments of this, Kaien let loose a loud scream, and a huge burst of reiatsu blasted out from his body, sending parts of the ridge flying and Uryu slid away from him. He then used a Shunpo and appeared in the air next to Ranmyaku, and landed a kick in his face which sent him flying into the distance, plowing through rock formations and anyting else in his path. As quickly as it had appeared, the high reiatsu vanished as Kaien began trying to wake Grimmjow up.

"Kaien!" Uryu shouted as he used his shunpo equivalent to get to the boy's side. Chad however, glared upward at Satosuke and went towards him instead.

"What the hell? So it seems he had some allies hiding in case he needed help, the coward. Oh well, Ranmyaku will deal with them," Satosuke spoke to himself as he watched Uryu and Kaien.

"He is not a coward, you are," a voice said behing him. Satosuke turned and saw Chad in the air near him.

"So you're hear too, came to see Ranmyaku power did you?" Satosuke asked with a grin.

"I'm afraid not, Grimmjow said killing you wasn't his concern, but I'll gladly take care of that," Chad replied as his arms transformed.

"What do you mean?" Satosuke asked nervously.

"What you and that monster have already done is unforgivable!" Chad replied as he charged at Satosuke, who raised a sheild of electricity to protect himself.

Chad's right fist was stopped by the barrier and Satosuke mockingly said, "Ha, I'm much too strong for you." Chad replied by pushing even harder, causing the barrier to bulge inward, this shocked Satosuke. "You can't kill me! If you kill me there won't be anyone who can control Ranmyaku! He'll run wild and destroy everything! Is that what you want?!" Satosuke asked.

"That's not going to happen whether you're alive or not so it doesn't matter!" Chad yelled as he shattered the barrier.

"Ranmyaku! Come here and help me!" Satosuke shouted.

"That's right, call your monster, so he can watch you die. La Muerte!" Chad shouted as he punched Satosuke in the gut with his left fist, causing blood to shoot from his mouth as he flew down to the ground and hit with such force the ground practically exploded.

Uryu looked up and watched Chad deal with Satosuke, then returned his attention to Kaien. "He can't die," Kaien muttered.

"He'll be fine Kaien," Uryu said reassuringly.

"My mom and dad told me, that Uncle Grimmjow was the sixth strongest Arrancar during the war, and now he is the strongest, there's no way he could lose to a stupid monster," Kaien continued. A moment later Grimmjow's eyes opened slowly. "Are you okay Uncle Grimmjow?" Kaien asked.

Grimmjow took a moment to register where he was and who was talking to him. He turned his head and asked, "Kaien, what are you doing here?" Before Kaien could reply, Grimmjow sat up and exclaimed, "Where is Ranmyaku?!"

"We have a few moments before he gets back, even he would be dazed by that blow," Uryu replied. Grimmjow nodded as he stood up.

"I want you all to leave, now," Grimmjow said solemnly.

"No, we're gonna help you, we can beat that thing if we work together," Kaien responded.

"Kaien, you have treated me with more kindness than I deserve. You were the one who showed me what it was like to have a friend, you and Nel both were the first to do that. Because of that I was able to come to think of the others as my friends as well," Grimmjow said with a reflective expression.

"What do mean?" Kaien asked. Uryu was stunned by the kind tone of Grimmjow's voice.

"I'm saying thank you, for everything. And one more thing, tell your father and mother, that I'm sorry for everything, they'll know what it means," Grimmjow replied. Before either Kaien or Uryu could react, Grimmjow struck him at the base of the neck, not hurting him, but knocking him out. Uryu stared at Grimmjow, who stared back, after a moment they both turned when they sensed Ranmyaku getting closer. Grimmjow took a few steps forward and said, "Take the kid and get as far away from here as you can, go now."

"Right," Uryu replied after a moment and picked Kaien up and went to leave, but stopped and looked back at Grimmjow. "You'll die, you know that," he stated.

Grimmjow was silent for a moment before replying, "There's something I'd like to know, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me."

"Of course, if I can I will," Uryu replied.

"What happens to spirit beings like us when we die?" Grimmjow asked simply.

"I'm not going to lie to you Grimmjow, though the answer may not be what you want to hear. This is the truth: we don't know for sure what happens, there are three theories. The first is that they are reincarnated into the human world. The second is that there is another after life beyond Soul Society. And the third, is that they simply cease to exist," Uryu replied.

"Hmph, oh well. That's all, get out of here, and hurry," Grimmjow said as Ranmyaku appeared about twenty meters away.

Without another word Uryu took off in the opposite direction. "You stay and fight!" Ranmyaku shouted.

"That's right!" Grimmjow shouted, causing Ranmyaku to focus on him. "Your fight is with me, the others are of no concern to you. Got it? You deformed freak of science!" Grimmjow shouted.

Ranmyaku growled in anger before saying, "Nobody talk me that way. Me kill you!" Grimmjow grinned in response.

As Uryu passed Chad, who had returned to the ridge, he shouted, "Hurry Chad! We have to get out of here right now!"

Chad glanced back at Grimmjow and said, "Yeah, right." With that he took off after Uryu.

Ranmyaku got into a fighting stance and yelled, "Me mad now! Fight!"

Grimmjow smirked and said, "I think I finally understand you, let's go." With that his reiatsu flared up as a dense visable auro that stirred up the ground around him.

* * *

Uryu and Chad were already five miles away from the fight, moving at maximum speed. Chad then said, "What's Grimmjow doing? He won't make it, that thing will tear him apart."

Uryu didn't turn to look at Chad but responded, "For the first time, Grimmjow is fighting for somebody other than himself. Controling his own fate."

* * *

Grimmjow's aura had become dramatically different: it had become a translucent sphere around his body, with whisps of reiatsu circling it's surface, and that was surrounded by what looked like a huge flame. The wind it made was intense that it was leveling nearby rock formations.

"You strong. Me have fun kill you," Ranmyaku stated with a grin.

Grimmjow laughed quietly before responding, "You are a fool. I'm going to crush you, and throw you into the wind." As he said this, white specks began leaving his body, they were spirit particles. Ranmyaku noticed this, and looked at his own body, they were leaving his body as well, he looked at Grimmjow with wide eyes. _'Nel, Kaien, I do this for you. And yes, even for you, Ichigo,'_Grimmjow thought to himself. Ranmyaku made a noise in fear as Grimmjow released all of his power with a scream, the explosion radiating from his body in every direction, clouds being blown away, the ground being ripped apart. Ranmyaku screamed in pain as his body was torn apart by the explosion, and with one last scream of triumph, Grimmjow vanished in the explosion, which now engulfed everything with in five miles.

* * *

Ten miles away, Uryu and Chad looked back at the massive explosion in shock. Uryu was speechless. Chad however managed to speak, "Gr-Grimmjow." After a moment he yelled, "Grimmjow!" As the explosion reached it's climax, they had to shield their eyes from the light, and they felt Grimmjow's reiatsu vanish.

_**And so, one of the world's greatest warriors has vanished in a blinding flash of light, having made the ultimate sacrifice, for the sake of his comrades. His name was Grimmjow Jeagerjacques, a proud, former Espada.**_


	8. Chapter 8: Mourning

**A/N: I know it's been a long time since the last update, and I deeply apologize for this. I have been preoccupied with several things that needed my immediate attention and unfortunately it took longer than I had thought it would.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter 8: Mourning**

Renji and the others had already started towards Karakura, more specifically Urahara's shop, which was several hundred miles to the east, when a huge shockwave hit them. The shockwave carried a familiar reiatsu and they turned towards its source to see a massive explosion in the distance.

"What the hell?!" Renji exclaimed as they all shielded their eyes from the light.

"Renji, isn't that Grimmjow's reiatsu?" Matsumoto asked.

"Yeah, it is. What the hell is going on over there?" Renji asked to nobody in particular.

/

As the explosion finally died down, Uryu and Chad were able to uncover their eyes and stare at where the explosion had been, niether said a word. After a moment, Uryu handed Kaien to Chad, who looked at him with a questioning expression.

"Go on ahead, follow Renji's group, they're most likely headed to Urahara's. I'll catch up later," Uryu stated solemnly.

"Wait, where are you going?" Chad asked.

"I'm going to go check it out," Uryu replied as he turned towards where the explosion had been.

"I'll go with you, I'd like to pay my final respects to Grimmjow," Chad said almost pleadingly.

"No, I'm sorry, but I'd rather go alone. Besides, Ranmyaku might still be alive, you have to protect Kaien," Uryu replied.

Chad thought for a moment before nodding and saying, "Alright, I understand. See you later." With that they took off in opposite directions.

After several minutes, Uryu arrived at the scene of the battle: it was unrecognizable. Gone were the trees and rock formations that had littered the landscape, all there was was a huge crater that extended for miles, though it wasn't very deep. Uryu looked around, there was no sign of Grimmjow, not that he expected there to be. He also small chunks of black and red flesh here and there, all that remained of Ranmyaku.

_'You did it Grimmjow, he's dead. I never expected you of all people to do something so noble. Your sacrifice wasn't in vain,' _Uryu thought to himself. "Goodbye...," Uryu said quietly. Then some of Grimmjow's final words replayed in his mind, _'...__Because of that I was able to come to think of the others as my friends as well.' _Uryu then quietly added, "...My friend."

Suddenly a patch of dirt was thrust upward, Uryu spun around, fearing the worst, but was relieved to only see Satosuke crawling out of the dirt. Uryu walked towards him and asked loudly, "How the hell did you manage to survive Chad's La Muerte and that explosion you worm?"

Satosuke managed to lift his head and glared at the Quincy before responding, "Your friend's attack wasn't strong enough to kill me in one shot, and it drove me into the ground. That explosion radiated outwards, but very little of its power traveled downwards, that's how I survived."

"I see, it's a good thing I came back to check things out. Farewell," Uryu stated as he materialized his bow and took aim at Satosuke's head. Just before he fired the arrow, another sound caught his attention, it sounded like something wet squirming around. He turned his head and was horrified by what he saw: the chunks of Ranmyaku's flesh were moving, at first erratically, then towards one point. Uryu then began to fire arrows at the chunks, destroying several before they actually seemed to start dodging the arrows, Uryu could only watch in horror as they came together and started to form something.

Before Ranmyaku could regenerate Uryu fled at top speed, rivaling Ichigo's speed only through fear. In less than a minute he was already five miles away and was thinking to himself, _'How the hell can we kill something like that?! He was in a million pieces! This is beyond any of us, the only people I can think of now that might have a chance are Captains Yamamoto, Ukitake, and Kyoraku.' _Uryu looked ahead, and to his shock he had already caught up with Chad.

"Chad!" Uryu shouted once he was closer.

Chad turned in shock and asked, "Uryu, what's wrong?"

"It didn't work, Ranmyaku survived and is regenerating as we speak. Satosuke is also alive," Uryu replied.

"What? How?" Chad asked in horror of what that statement meant.

"I'll explain once we get to Urahara's. I'm also concerned about Ichigo, there's been no sign of him for a while," Uryu replied. Chad simply nodded as they continued on their way at top speed.

/

When he opened his eyes, all he could see was dirt, and all he could feel at first was a throbbing pain at the back of his skull. He slowly stood up and cursed under his breath, "Damnit Grimmjow, that was a cheap shot." Ichigo then looked at the position of the moon: it was setting. "It's almost morning, damnit, it's been hours since Grimmjow knocked me out," he cursed once more. _'Wait a minute, I can't sense Grimmjow anymore, or anyone else. But I can still sense Satosuke and Ramyaku, what the hell happend while I was out?' _he thought to himself. He quickly suppressed his reiatsu so he wouldn't be found by the enemy.

He then reached into his pocket and thank whatever god there was, his spirit phone had somehow survived, and itwas flashing with a message. it read: Unable to open the Gate, fall back to Urahara's shop. He then went to the GPS system of the phone and found his location in relation to Urahara's shop, and groaned to himself, Karakura was hundreds of miles to the east, across a large expanse of water, it would take him several hours even with shunpo to get there.

"Well, might as well get going, I need to find out what happend," with that said he vanished with a _swish_ sound.

/

It was nearing noon the day after the attack force had been sent to the world of the living, all of the survivers, save for Ichigo were waiting at Urahara's shop, for news on Ichigo, for Ranmyaku to attack them, for contact from Soul Society, for anything. An aura of perpetual gloom surrounded the place, the news of Hitsugaya's and Grimmjow's deaths that Uryu and Chad had brought hit everyone hard. Even Urahara's attempts at lightening the mood had failed, and he too succumbed to the depression the polluted the air.

Most were in quiet shcok and disbelief, Matsumoto wept openly for her captain whom she cared for like a brother while Renji tried to comfort her, and Kaien was still unconcious and resting in one of Urahara's spare rooms. They had been concerned that maybe Grimmjow had hit him too hard, but Urahara and Yoruichi had assured them that it was mostly exhaustion that kept him unconcious.

Renji, Matsumoto, Chad, and Uryu were sitting outside in front of the store when Ichigo appeared in the courtyard, still in Bankai and looking exhausted. The Bankai faded as Ichigo finally dismissed it and placed Zangetsu on his back and began to stumble forward.

"Ichigo!" the four shouted as they rushed to help him inside so he could get some well deserved rest.

As they made it inside Urahara cheerfully greeted Ichigo, "Ah Ichigo! Long time no see, would it kill you and the others to visit me once in a while? It's been too quiet around here since you all left!" Urahara said the last part with a mock pout.

Ichigo couldn't help but grin at Urahara's attitude and replied, "Sorry Urahara, but you know how busy captains are."

"Ah that I do, that I do." Urahara stated with a laugh.

After they sat Ichigo down he asked, "Alright, is somebody to explain to me what the hell happend after Grimmjow knocked me out?" An hour later, after Ichigo had explained why he and Grimmjow had been fighting to those who didn't know, and the bad news of the events afterwards had been broken to him, Ichigo was sitting by Kaien's bedside.

He hadn't reacted well when he was told that Grimmjow had died, trying to take Ranmyaku with him, only to have the monster survive, in fact, he had slammed his hand down on Urahara's table with enough force to shatter it to splinters of wood. After they had told him everything he had immediately gone to check on Kaien, and had remained there, lost in thought. He thought mostly about how Grimmjow had sacrificed himself in order to protect everyone, that was the last thing Ichigo expected Grimmjow to do. Uryu had also told Ichigo some of Grimmjow's last words, he had called them all his friends, this made Ichigo think of Grimmjow in a new light, his once great enemy who had become his rival and seemingly reluctant ally had genuinely cared about their lives and valued their friendship. This revelation brought a few tears to Ichigo's eyes but he fought them back, he had viewed Grimmjow as a friend for a long time but he knew Grimmjow wouldn't want them to be sad about his death, he went out the way he always wanted: fighting and proving that he was not to be taken lightly.

He suddenly sensed something outside the shop, it was the Gate opening. He rushed to the front of the shop with everyone else as the Gate opened and several people rushed through, the first being Rukia. She saw Ichigo and ran up to him before throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face between his shoulder and neck, Ichigo instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist and held her. Nel, Momo, Byakuya, and Unohana were the next ones through, followed by members of the Fourth Squad.

After a moment Rukia lifted her head and asked, "Ichigo, where's Kaien? He was sucked through the Gate and we couldn't open it to go after him."

Before Ichigo could answer Nel asked, "Where's Grimmjow?"

Momo also asked, "And Toshiro, where is he?"

Ichigo's face took on a dark and depressed expression at these questions and didn't answer. Rukia noticed and began to fear the worst and pleadingly asked, "Ichigo?"

Still he didn't answer, and Uryu stated, "Ichigo, you have to tell them."

"Tell us what?" Momo asked in a scared tone.

Ichigo nodded before he began to speak, "Kaien will be fine, Chad and Uryu took care of him, he's resting in the back room. But..." he paused to collect his wayward thoughts, "...but Toshiro and Grimmjow, are dead." At this, all of the new comers froze, even Byakuya was shocked. "They both died fighting Ranmyaku, and we don't know what happend to Lucas," Ichigo added after a moment.

Momo immediately broke down into tears after she let loose a scream of unbearable pain, and Nel cried openly for Grimmjow. After a few moments Uryu and Chad explained that they were with Grimmjow just before the end and told everyone exactly how he died.

"He deserves to be honored," Byakuya spoke up, surprising everyone and they all turned to face him. "Though his attempt failed, he sacrificed himself to save his comrades, there is no death more honorable than that," he continued.

"Yes, once we return to Soul Society, the first order of business will be to hold a memorial service to those who lost their lives on this mission, especially Captain Hitsugaya and Grimmjow," Unohana added.

About an hour later, Ichigo and Rukia were sitting with Kaien who had woken up shortly after Rukia and the others had arrived, when they told him that Grimmjow had died fighting to protect everyone he cried uncontrollably but calmed down after a while. Ichigo and Rukia had almost cried along with him, but they knew that if they showed how saddened they were by this, there would be no consoling Kaien.

Kaien then spoke up, "Mom, dad. He told me to tell you something." Ichigo and Rukia looked at Kaien questioningly. "He said that he was sorry for everything, and that you would know what that meant," Kaien finished. Ichigo and Rukia were stunned, not only had Grimmjow valued their friendship, given his life to protect the people he could only finally admit to being his friends at that moment, but he felt remorse for what he had done to them in the past. Ichigo and Rukia both couldn't contain their saddness at this last revelation, and both cried silently for both their fallen friends.

**A/N: I know it's not very long, but I felt that was a good place to end it. Please Review. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can.**


	9. Chapter 9: Enter: The Long Lost Rouge

**A/N: Finally finished with High School, I should have a little more time to work on this than I did before. Please Read and Review. The character introduced in this chapter belongs to me.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter Nine: Enter: The Long Lost Rouge**

It had been three days since everyone returned to Soul Society, the memorial service had been held the first day after their return, a large lack stone had been erected in the Gate's plaza with the names of those who died on the mission etched into it, Grimmjow and Hitsugaya being at the top of the list. Soul Society was in a period of mourning, and since Ranmyaku's awakening, no Hollows had entered the world of the living, most likely out of fear of Ranmyaku's power. Strangely, Ranmyaku hadn't appeared after Uryu witnessed him regenerating, nor had Satosuke. They came to the conclusion that Satosuke was waiting until he had fully healed before making his next move.

It was about noon, Ichigo and Rukia were at the Squad 5 training grounds over-seeing the training of the new recruits, every now and then they were asked to demonstrate the proper way to do something, which they would gladly do. Rukia was usually asked to demonstrate how to properly cast higher level kido spells, and the female recruits asked her to show them Sode no Shirayuki's shikai, since it is known as the most beautiful zanpakutou. Ichigo was asked to demonstrate swordsmanship and shunpo, and of course his Bankai. One recruit asked him to show them his Hollow mask, but Ichigo refused to do so, saying that it was not something he was proud of or used lightly.

Now they were just sitting under a tree and watching the recruits be trained by other members of the squad who had been specifically assigned to do this by Ichigo and Rukia. Rukia leaned against his side and he put an arm around her, after a moment she said, "I know what you're thinking, please don't do something crazy like take that thing on alone to try and avenge them." She knew that Ichigo wanted to avenge his fallen friends, but she didn't want him to be careless and get himself killed.

"I can't avenge them Rukia, even if I tried," Ichigo replied with a hopeless tone. Rukia was shocked by this reaction, he sounded so defeated. Ichigo continued, "When Grimmjow and I fought, we were completely even. When he fought that thing he gave it everything he had, and it wasn't enough, I wouldn't do any better if I tried."

Rukia rested her head against his chest and wrapped her arm around his waist and tried to reassure him, "We'll find a way to kill that thing. Remember, if it can be given life it can also have it taken away, nothing is immortal."

Ichigo tightened his hold on her slightly and rested his head atop hers and replied, "I know, but I just feel so useless."

They remained like that for almost an hour before a loud voice announced, "All captains and lieutenants report to the meeting hall immediately, this is an emergency." Ichigo and Rukia shot up and began their way to the hall at top speed, both thinking the same thing: Satosuke and Ranmyaku had made their move.

Within moments everyone had gathered in the hall, Matsumoto representing Squad 10 alone as the temporary captain. Once they were all in their spots, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime arrived, a messanger had been sent for them and they took their places with Ichigo and Rukia. "I know what you are all thinking, but this doesn't involve Ranmyaku and Satosuke, at least not directly. Hollows have started to enter the world of the living once more, but something is different, there are far more Menos than ordinary Hollows. They appeared in Karakura first, but are starting to appear else where. I will let Kisuke Urahara explain," Yamamoto stated.

The wall opened up to reveal a large screen with Urahara's solemn face on it. "Greetings Captains and Lieutenants. It's just as Yamamoto said, Menos are invading the living world in large numbers, there were several Gillians and Adjuchas here just hours ago. Unfortunately, that's not the worst news, there was also a Vasto Lorde that used elemental attacks of fire, earth, water, and wind. Yoruichi and I managed to repel it after a fierce battle," Urahara explained. Everyone gasped at this last bit of news, a Vasto Lorde leaving Hueco Mundo and attacking the living world was unheard of. Urahara cleared his throat to get their attention, "I'm afraid there is more." He hit a few buttons, and a feed of a news broadcast covered the screen.

"What is this?" Kenpachi asked.

"It's a news show, in the living world people watch this to find out about what's going on locally and in the world," Ichigo replied shortly so they could focus on what it was showing. To their shock, the news broadcast was showing Hollows and Shinigami fighting, the reporter saying things along the lines off, "What are these monstrous creatures and mysterious sword wielding people?"

After a moment it cut back to Urahara who stated, "As you clearly saw, Hollows and Shinigami, or rather spirits in general are now visible to normal humans."

"What could have caused that to happen?" Ukitake voiced the question on everyone's mind.

"I'd have to say that it was that huge pulse of reiatsu that shot out when Ranmyaku was awakened, it's made normal humans spiritually aware, this and Ranmyaku's absence is what is causing the massive influx of Menos," Urahara replied.

"Does mean what I think it means?" Kenpachi asked with a sadistic grin.

"Yes, it means that all captains and seated officers are to be dispatched to the living world to deal with this influx of Menos, Uryu Ishida and Yasutora Sado are to accompany one of the groups. Prepare to leave at once," Yamamoto ordered as he banged his staff on the floor.

* * *

Lucas struggled to open his eyes, even when he did, all he saw was darkness, after a moment he realized he was looking at the ceiling of a cave. He sat up and looked around and thought to himself, _'How did I get here? And why doesn't my body hurt?' _Upon closer inspection he found that all of his wounds had been healed. As he stood up and looked around, he realized he wasn't alone in the cave: there was another body on the floor a short way away, with a white haori and unmistakeable white hair. "Captain Hitsugaya!" Lucas shouted as he rushed to the Shinigami's side and inspected his condition, his wounds were mostly healed and he was stable.

A moment later he heard a commotion outside, and went to see what it was. When he arrived at the entrance he was shocked at what he saw: one man, Lucas assumed he was the one who brought Hitsugaya and himself to the cave, was facing a group of Adjuchas class Menos, there were at least ten of them. The man stood at about six feet, maybe a bit more, had shoulder length jet black hair that blew freely in the strong wind, a long and tattered black cloak that billowed at his side in the wind, a black long sleeved button up shirt, black pants, and black boots. On his right hand he wore a black leather glove, on his left he wore a silver gauntlet with clawed fingers that encased his arm up to the elbow.

"You're going to take us all on at once?" one of the Hollows asked.

"That's correct. You desire to devour the two in the cave, I can't allow that, therefore I must eliminate you Hollow scum," the man responded in a calm but determined voice.

"You are a fool, you can't win! Fine, we'll devour you as well!" Another of the Hollows shouted, with that said they all leapt at the man.

Lucas was about to jump in and help when the man vanished with a _swish_. _'Shunpo! That means he's a Shinigami,' _Lucas thought to himself. As quickly as he vanished, the man appeared behind the Hollows with a zanpakutou in his right hand, it had been concealed beneath his cloak. The zanpakutou was simple in design, but at the same time elegant: it was the size of an average katana, with a circular dark grey handguard with eight slits in two groups of four opposite each other, a white hilt wrapped with black, and a dark grey pommel. He turned and glared at the Hollows with piercing green eyes, a moment later two of the Hollows disintegrated. Not wasting a second he charged at the remaining eight, and cut another in half before they could respond. Two of the remaining seven turned and each fired a Cero, when the light cleared he was gone, a moment later he dropped onto the head of one of the Hollows and impaled it through the head and fired a blast of crimson fire, after mumbling something, at another, killing both. The remaining five all charged him, he dodged their attacks using shunpo, until he had them all clumped together and then turned his palm towards them and shouted, "Hado Number 54, Abolishing Flames!" With that said a huge blast of purple energy shot forward and destroyed the Hollows.

The man began walking back towards the cave and said, "You're finally awake, it's been three days since I brought the two of you here."

"Thank you for healing us, unfortunately my companion is not awake yet," Lucas stated.

"I didn't expect him to be, he was barely alive when I found him, well, not that Shinigami are alive," the man replied, then continued, "Forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Cain Nightshade."

"My name is Lucas, the Shinigami inside is Toshiro Hitsugaya, but he prefers people to be formal and call him Captain Hitsugaya. It's nice to meet you," Lucas replied.

"I see, so he really is a captain, he doesn't seem to be very old," Cain said thoughtfully.

"We were with two other captains, Ichigo Kurosaki and Renji Abarai, I heard them mention that he was the youngest captain in history, that he had been a child prodigy," Lucas said.

"Two more captains I don't recognize, the name Kurosaki I remember, but it was Isshin Kurosaki, I've been gone too long," Cain stated solemnly.

"You mean you left Soul Society, how long ago was it?" Lucas asked.

"I've lost track of time, but it's been many years," Cain replied as he went back into the cave, and came out carrying Hitsugaya over his shoulder. "Can you carry him?" he asked.

"Sure, where are we going?" Lucas asked as he took Hitsugaya.

"I'm going to kill Hollows, now that you're awake you can carry him so I can go further away from the cave. Let's go," Cain stated as he took off and Lucas followed.

* * *

Ichigo landed on the ground after leaping through the Gate, with Rukia, Uryu, and Chad right behind him. Ukitake along with Sentaro and Kiyone soon followed, and then all of the seated members of Squads 5 and 13. Ichigo was uneasy enough that Rukia was sent on this mission, he was made even more wary by the fact that they were only fifty miles away from where Satosuke's facility had been, and he was worried that Ranmyaku was still in the area.

Ichigo looked around to make sure they were all there before he asked, "Okay, so what's the plan Ukitake?"

"We were sent here to draw the Menos away from any cities or towns. That way we can fight them without holding back or worrying about humans getting caught in the cross fire," Ukitake replied.

"That's a wonderful plan Captain Ukitake!" Kiyone exclaimed.

"I was about to say that you brat!" Sentaro shouted. Everyone sighed at this and they all shared one thought: "Here we go again..."

For a few moments Ukitake tried to calm them down, but it was useless. They escalated to a full shouting match, that is until Chad walked over, picked them both up, and held them at arms' length in opposite directions. "That's enough," he stated.

Both Sentaro and Kiyone immediately began shouting at Chad that they were just trying to congratulate Ukitake on coming up with a great plan and to put them down. Ichigo listened to their pointless banter for a few seconds before running over and whacking them both in the back of the head and shouted, "For the love of God it wasn't even his plan! It was old man Yamamoto's! We were sent here to deal with Menos, now stay focused!"

They both slumped slightly and replied, "Yes sir Captain Kurosaki." With that Chad put them down and they all raised their reiastu, in order to draw any Hollows in the area to them. Within minutes, howls could be heard in the distance, and a few minutes after that they started to appear: Gillians and Adjuchas class Menos. Everyone except Ukitake and Ichigo, seeing as Zangetsu is constantly in its released form, immediately released their zanpakutou, seated officers or not, Menos weren't to be taken lightly, Chad's arms transformed and Uryu materialized his bow.

The Hollows charged and everybody split up, fighting in smaller groups: Ichigo and Rukia fought side by side, Chad and Uryu, Ukitake with both Kiyone and Sentaro, and the seated officers broke up in groups they were comfortable in.

Ichigo and Rukia were so in tune with each they didn't even need to communicate with each other while fighting side by side, they fought flawlessly as a team, they would instinctively cover each other's openings. It almost looked as if they were in a complicated dance of blades as they wove through the Hollows and around each other, and if one looked closely they could see Zangetsu's hilt wrap and Sode no Shirayuki's ribbon momentarily wind around each other.

Chad and Uryu also worked well as a team, though not to the point where they didn't to communicate. Uryu would fire off several arrows, killing many Hollows, then when a few got close he would use Hirenkyaku to get away from them so Chad could fire off a large blast and take them all out. Between Uryu's pinpoint accurate attacks, and Chad's large, immensely strong attacks, they made short work of any Hollows foolish enough to attack them.

Ukitake was being careful not to over-exert himself so as to not make his illness act up, Sentaro and Kiyone were covering him. The squad members were fighting with everything they had, they were over powering the Hollows, but nobody was unscathed, including Ichigo and Ukitake. Although they were the strongest there but these weren't the everyday garden variety Hollows they were fighting.

After several moments the Hollows froze as they sensed something, everybody froze in confusion. A moment later a portal to Hueco Mundo opened and a bone chilling reiatsu poured through. "This is bad," Ukitake muttered.

A single Hollow stepped through, it was humanoid in appearance, with clawed fingers and toes, spikes protruding from several parts of its body, had red skin, its mask was smooth and swept back into a single spike that extended behind its head, its teeth came to points and had menacing yellow eyes. It glared at the Shinigami and many were forced to the ground by its massive reiatsu.

"It's a Vasto Lorde, I can't believe it," Rukia muttered in horror as she struggled to remain standing.

"These lowly Shinigami are what's holding you all up? Pathetic," the Vasto Lorde said with an air of superiority.

"Just because you're a Vasto Lorde, don't think you can take us lightly. There are two captains here if you didn't notice," Ichigo stated as he turned to face it.

"Really now? I've wanted to test my strength against a captain for a while, but if I take down two, that'll show Marid up," the Vasto Lorde stated, mumbling the last part.

"Who is Marid?" Ukitake asked as he and Ichigo stepped closer to the Vasto Lorde, solidifying that they were his opponents.

"Hmm? Oh, he's just another Vasto Lorde that was repelled by two captain class Shingami earlier today," the Vasto Lorde replied.

"Must be the one Urahara and Yoruichi fought," Ichigo concluded, Ukitake nodded in response. Ichigo pointed Zangetsu at the Vasto Lorde and the hilt wrap coiled around his arm and he shouted, " Enough with the small talk, Bankai!"

At the same time Ukitake chanted, "Every wave become my shield, every thunder become my blade, Sogyo no Kotowari!" with that he pulled the two blades apart and both he and Ichigo charged at the Vasto Lorde.

All the fighting resumed, though the others were having a slightly more difficult time since Ichigo and Ukitake were fighting the Vasto Lorde, though they managed to keep that fight in the air and away from everyone else. Every now and then a stray Cero or Getsuga would crash into the ground, every now and then a bolt of lightning from Ukitake's zanpakutou would do the same, while water droplets would fall from the water barriers Ukitake would raise to block attacks.

Ichigo dodged a swipe from the Vasto Lorde's claws and looked down in horror: a Cero was heading straight for Rukia, she had just noticed it and wouldn't be able to dodge, nor would he be able to get there fast enough. "Rukia!" he shouted as he tried to get to her but was blocked by the Vasto Lorde again. "I don't have time to mess around with you!" Ichigo shouted as he donned his mask, this shocked the Hollow so much that Ichigo was able to get past its defenses and get a clean slice through its left side, and Ukitake took the oppurtunity to stab it through the head, finishing it off. Ichigo looked back down to Rukia, but it was too late, the Cero was mere feet from hitting her.

Everyone watched in horror as time seemed to slow down, then Rukia vanished right before the Cero exploded. They all looked around and saw where she was: she was being carried under the arm of a man with long black hair, wearing all black including a cloak and leather glove on his right hand, and he wore a silver clawed gauntlet on his left hand which was the one he wasn't holding Rukia with. He set her down and she looked around in confusion, before looking at him and saying, "T-Thank you."

The man looked up at Ichigo and squinted his eyes in thought before replying, "No problem." Suddenly another Cero was fired at him, instead of dodging he simply put his left hand up to intercept the blast, the Cero stopped dead and quickly diminished to nothing. "You should be more careful," the man said in an almost teasing, yet serious tone. He then drew a zanpakutou from beneath his cloak and joined the battle.

"Who was that man?" Rukia asked to nobody after a moment.

"His name is Cain Nightshade. He's a Shinigami with amazing power, he says he left Soul Society many years ago," a voice replied from behind her.

Rukia turned and saw who it was, "Lucas, you're alive!" When she saw Hitsugaya over his shoulder she gasped and exclaimed, "Captain Hitsugaya?!"

"Yes, we're both alive, Cain took care of us and healed our wounds, but Captain Hitsugaya hasn't woken up yet," Lucas responded.

Ichigo looked down, and after seeing the strange man save Rukia and join the battle on their side, he sighed in relief and removed his mask and rejoined the battle, making sure to stay by Rukia's side, much to her annoyance.

About twenty minutes later, the battle was over, everyone had resealed their zanpakutou and were resting. Lucas had introduced Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, and Uryu to Cain, though Cain didn't say much other than, "So this is the Captain Kurosaki you mentioned."

Suddenly, Ukitake along with Sentaro and Kiyone walked straight at Cain, not looking at anything else. "Is it really him?" Kiyone asked quietly.

"I'm not sure, if he is he's gotten much stronger," Sentaro replied in a hushed tone.

When they got to him, Cain turned and faced the three of them, Ukitake stared at him for several moments before a huge smile came over his face, and he cheerfully, "It really is you, I'm happy to see you again Cain."

Cain also smiled and bowed his head slightly before he replied, "Long time no see, Captain."

**A/N: Have to end it there, it's late and I'm tired. As stated above Cain Nightshade is my creation and property, he will play a crucial role in the plot from here out, some of his background will be explained next chapter, but I'm saving most of it for his origin story which I will begin when this get's close to the end. Please Review.**


	10. Chapter 10: Ichigo vs Cain

**A/N: This chapter is mostly action so enjoy. As promised some of Cain's background will be explained. Please Read and Review.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter Ten: Ichigo vs Cain**

Everybody gawked at Cain's laid back greeting to Ukitake, true he had told Lucas he had been a member of one of the squads and left quite some time ago, but it was still unexpected that he would be so familiar with Ukitake.

"Do you know him Captain Ukitake?" Rukia asked her former captain after a moment.

Ukitake turned to her and the others, with the same grin as before as he replied, "Yes, I know Cain very well, he is a former member of Squad 13."

Everybody gasped at this, except for Ukitake, Kiyone, Sentaro, and of course Cain himself. "Then why don't I remember him?" Rukia asked.

"That would be because he left the squad and Soul Society five years before you joined up," Sentaro replied.

Kiyone then jumped up in Cain's face and shouted, "It's great to see you again Cain!"

Cain rolled his eyes and replied, "It's good to see you too Kiyone, same to you Sentaro." Sentaro shut his mouth without saying anything, Cain had beaten him to it. "If I may, why are you all here in the living world?" Cain asked after a moment.

"Well you see, old man Yamamoto dispatched all seated officers and captains to deal with the massive influx of Menos. Everybody here are seated officers from Squads 5 and 13, except for Chad and Uryu. Chad's a human with very high power, basically captain level, and Uryu is a Quincy, also about captain level," Ichigo interjected, deciding to join the conversation.

"I see...wait. If all the seated members of Squads 5 and 13 are here, where are Kaien and Miyako? Did they transfer to another squad?" Cain asked as he looked around, but stopped when he noticed the solemn expression on several faces.

"Unfortunately, Kaien and Miyako died in an accident quite some time ago," Ukitake replied sadly.

Cain's face took on a saddened expression before asking, with a wavering tone, "What happened to them?" Ukitake alone explained the incident involving the strange Hollow, and exactly how both Miyako and Kaien met their untimely deaths. After the story ended, which took a bit of time to tell, Cain turned to Rukia and said, "Thank you for freeing him. Kaien was a very close friend of mine, as was Miyako."

"Don't thank me, I regret that we couldn't save him," Rukia replied solemnly.

Ichigo decided to lighten the mood a bit and added, "You know Cain, Rukia and I named our son Kaien, in his memory."

Cain smiled at this before replying, "He would've gotten a kick out of that." He then asked, "How is it that you are captain of Squad 5? I thought Aizen was the captain."

"It would seem we have much more to tell our old friend, but we should wait until we get back to Soul Society, everyone will be happy to see Captain Hitsugaya is alive. You should come with us Cain," Ukitake stated.

Cain's face took on a hesitant and almost frightened appearance before saying, "But Captain, what about..."

"Don't worry about it, a lot has happened. What you saw earlier should be proof enough you won't be persecuted for the reason you left," Ukitake stated in an attempt to reassure him. Cain glanced at Ichigo from the corner of his eye and nodded.

Within moments the Gate had opened and the many warriors began to walk through the inter-dimensional pathway. As they were walking Rukia asked, "So what position was Cain back then Captain Ukitake?"

Ukitake replied so Ichigo and the others could all hear as well, "Well that itself is a bit of a story, but I'll skip most of the details to shorten it. Cain joined Squad 13 less than a month after the Vizards, Urahara, Yoruichi, and Tessai left Soul Society. I was the one who recommended him for the Academy and requested he be placed in my squad, and because of his capabilities gave him the 8th seat upon entry. He quickly befriended many members of the squad, and formed a friendly rivalry with Kaien. Within the first five years he worked his way up to 3rd seat. You see back then the ranks were a bit different: Kaien was Lieutenant, Cain was 3rd seat, Miyako was 4th seat, and Kiyone and Sentaro were 5th seat. But to be honest, Cain was Lieutenant level, but he refused to transfer to another squad. Over all, Cain was a member of Squad 13 for thirty five years before he left." Everyone listened intently the whole time, Cain remained silent and had a reflective expression, remembering his time in Squad 13.

When they arrived in Soul Society, the news that Hitsugaya was alive spread like wildfire and many celebrations broke out. Hitsugaya's name was removed from the memorial and Grimmjow's was enlarged so it covered the entire top. Cain was praised as a hero by Squad 10, while Cain went to meet with Captain Commander Yamamoto to be briefed on what he had missed in his absence and the current situation.

Towards the end of the day Ichigo, Rukia, Kaien, Masaki, Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Lucas, Ukitake, Kiyone, and Sentaro were resting at the Squad 5 training grounds when Cain suddenly appeared using shunpo, his cloak moving erratically.

"Cain, would you like to join us? We were just relaxing and talking about a few things," Ukitake said cheerfully. When Cain got to them he was introduced to Orihime, Kaien, and Masaki.

He then turned to Ichigo and began, "I actually wanted to ask Captain Kurosaki-"

He was cut off by Ichigo saying, "Just call me Ichigo, I don't like formalities."

"Very well. Ichigo, would you have a sparring match with me?" Cain asked.

Ichigo jumped up with a smirk and replied, "No problem." They walked out to the middle of the field and Ichigo asked, "Any particular reason for this?"

"When I look at you, you remind me of Kaien, and I want to see just how strong you are," Cain replied.

"I can understand that, but just to let ya know, I'm no push over," Ichigo stated as he placed his hand on Zangetsu's hilt.

"I wouldn't expect a captain to be a push over," Cain said as he unsheathed his zanpakutou. Ichigo removed Zangetsu from his back, the cloth falling away as he did so. Cain took note of the sword's appearance and asked, "Shikai already? Shouldn't a captain be able to fight without relying on their zanpakutou's powers?"

"You're right, captains are certainly capable of dealing with most enemies without releasing their zanpakutou. But I must apologize, Zangetsu is always in his Shikai form," Ichigo replied.

"I see, so your zanpakutou is a constant release type. Then you wouldn't mind if I evened the playing field," Cain stated. He then held his zanpakutou off to his right side at an angle pointing at the ground and shouted, "Crush our enemies with the rage of a dragon, Ryuujin (Dragon King)!" With that Cain's zanpakutou morphed, it retained the size and shape of a katana, but it changed dramatically: the pommel kept its silver color but changed into a dragon head in mid roar, the hilt lost its wrap and changed to a dark green with a scale design, the hand-guard also kept its silver color but changed into four clawed fingers with the claws pointing towards the tip of the blade, the blade itself obtained an intricate design along both sides resembling scales.

"That's a pretty awesome looking zanpakutou, I hope it can back up its name," Ichigo stated as he got into a fighting stance, holding Zangetsu infront of him with both hands.

"Don't worry about that," Cain replied as held Ryuujin level with his eyes, the tip pointed at Ichigo.

Back on the side lines the others watched on silently, waiting for the fight to begin, until Kaien said, "His sword doesn't look that powerful. Dad's sword is probably a lot stronger."

"Yeah, daddy's sword is really strong, I've seen him break other swords with it," Masaki added.

"Now now, you shouldn't judge by appearances. Just because it doesn't look strong doesn't mean it's weak," Ukitake stated with a pat on their heads.

"Exactly, like how Uncle Uryu looks weak but is actually very powerful," Rukia added with a grin. Uryu just fumed and gave her a slight glare, earning a laugh from the others.

Ukitake stopped laughing after a moment and continued, "But seriously, Cain's zanpakutou is not to be underestimated, it's one of the most powerful I've seen in a long time, he had Kaien's Nejibana beat when it came to pure destructive power. When it comes to destructive capabilities, Ryuujin is on par with Zangetsu." At this everyone snapped their heads back to Ichigo and Cain.

Ichigo and Cain continued to stare each other down for several moments, Cain then vanished using shunpo and Ichigo spun around to block a slash that had been aimed at his back. They both pushed each others swords, attempting to force the other back and Ichigo said with a smirk, "It won't be that easy."

"Good," Cain replied simply before jumping back to put some distance between Ichigo and himself. Ichigo charged in next with an upward slash which Cain blocked easily, for the next several moments they exchanged blows, each blocking the other every time. Cain then attempted to stab Ichigo, which he blocked with Zangetsu's broad side and deflected Ryuujin to the side and slashed at Cain, this was blocked by the wrist of Cain's gauntlet without it receiving so much as a scratch. Before Cain could retaliate, Ichigo used shunpo to put distance between them and quickly swung Zangetsu and released a Getsuga. Cain's eyes widened slightly before a slight green aura engulfed Ryuujin and Cain swung it, which released what looked like a sphere of swirling wind and reiatsu with a diameter of around ten feet. It sped along the ground, ripping it up as it went, and collided with the Getsuga, the two attacks cancelled each other out in an explosion.

As the dust cleared, Ichigo asked, "I wasn't expecting an attack like that, so what's it called?"

Cain grinned before he replied, " It's name is Kamaitachi (cut caused by whirlwind). I combine some of my reiatsu with Ryuujin's and it creates a condensed area of swirling reiatsu which causes the air to rotate at a high enough speed where it cuts like blades." He then asked, "And yours?"

"It's name is Getsuga Tenshou, I feed my reiatsu into Zangetsu, it gets amplified and released from the tip of the blade as I swing, resulting in an ultra amplified slash," Ichigo replied with a grin to match Cain's.

Cain suddenly pointed at Ichigo with his left pointer finger and shouted, "Hado number four, White Lightning!" A bolt of lightning shot from Cain's finger directly at Ichigo.

_'Shit! I hate that one!' _Ichigo thought to himself, remembering when Byakuya had used it on him. Ichigo then released another Getsuga which cut through the kido and kept on course for Cain. However, Cain simply held out his left hand to block the attack which quickly dissipated to nothing. _'What the hell is going on? How did he block it that easily? Wait, he did the same thing with that Cero before,'_Ichigo thought to himself, he came to a conclusion and decided to test it. He put a huge amount of reiatsu into Zangetsu and swung the sword while shouting, "Getsuga Tenshou!" The attack went straight for Cain, who once again used his left hand to block, as the attack dissipated Ichigo used shunpo to appear behind Cain and released yet another Getsuga, this one Cain dodged using shunpo and put distance between them once more.

Ichigo laughed slightly before announcing, "I figured it out! That gauntlet of yours negates all incoming reiatsu, that's how you blocked that Cero and my Getsuga Tenshou attacks so easily."

"That's right, my gauntlet negates incoming reiatsu, but it allows my reiatsu to flow out. I think it's time you see another of Ryuujin's abilities," Cain stated. He then rested the flat of Ryuujin's blade on his shoulder and pointed the dragon head pommel at Ichigo. Ichigo looked at him with a confused expression, Cain then shouted, "Inferuno (inferno)!" With that a huge stream of fire shot out from the dragon mouth, Ichigo held up Zangetsu to take the front of the attack, and vanished within the flames. Cain then started to run around the burning area and repeatedly launched Kamaitachi attacks into it.

Suddenly Ichigo's voice was heard shouting, "Getsuga Tenshou!" But instead of an energy slash coming out of the flames at one point, a huge circular wave of energy erupted from the fire at every point, extinguishing all of the flames to reveal Ichigo twirling Zangetsu above his head by the hilt wrap, he had a few burns and cuts. Cain, not expecting the attack, received a cut across the chest that bled for a few moments. Ichigo easily caught Zangetsu's hilt as the sword lost its momentum. "Nice try, I wasn't expecting fire after that other attack," Ichigo said as he rested Zangetsu over his shoulder.

"That's quite an ingenious trick," Cain said as he inspected the wound on his chest. He then asked, "Why don't you use your Bankai Ichigo?" Before Ichigo could reply, Cain continued, "Forget the question, use your Bankai, now."

Ichigo laughed at the situation, and how similar it was to how he had demanded that Byakuya use his Bankai all those years ago, though there was something different about this. Ichigo held Zangetsu out in front of him as the cloth wrapped around his arm. He then said, "Have it your way, Bankai!" Ichigo was hidden for a few moments before he was revealed with the long, tattered robe and the slim, black blade. "Tensa Zangetsu," he said simply as the dust settled.

"I already know your Bankai's power, and I'm not foolish enough to try and fight it at my current level," Cain stated.

Ichigo grinned as Cain said this, already knowing what he meant. "You can use Bankai, that's why you wanted me to use mine," Ichigo concluded.

"That's right, I've been able to use Bankai for about fifty years now," Cain replied.

Back on the sidelines, Sentaro and Kiyone were in hysterics shouting, "Cain can use Bankai?!"

Ukitake on the other hand had a proud smile on his face and said, "I suspected he had Bankai, he wouldn't have challenged a captain to a sparring match if he didn't." Everyone watched in anticipation, waiting for Cain to release his Bankai.

Cain held Ryuujin infront of him, vertically with the point of the blade facing the sky and rested his palm on the flat of the blade. A bright green reiatsu engulfed Cain before he leapt high into the air and shouted, "Bankai!" A beam of light shot out from the pommel of the sword toward the ground and expanded as it neared the ground. After a moment Cain was visible again, he was standing above a huge cloud of smoke, holding a seemingly unchanged Ryuujin in his hand, but upon a second look they saw that it had lost its dragon head pommel, and a solid stream of reiatsu flowed from the sword's hilt down into the smoke. Suddenly a huge pair wings emerged from the smoke, and with one flap a huge gust of wind blew the smoke away, revealing a huge, dark green dragon. It's scales like armor, four legs, claws and fangs the length of swords, horns growing from its head and going backwards, spines along its back and tail, glowing red eyes, it stood at about two stories tall, and it was easily five hundred feet long. Cain stood atop its head and the reiatsu from the sword connected to the base of the dragon's skull.

Everyone, including Ichigo and Ukitake gawked in amazement at Cain's Bankai. Cain looked at the dragon and sword fondly, then faced Ichigo and loudly said, "Susamaji Ryuujin (Fierce Dragon King)."

"That's so cool!" Kaien exclaimed from the side lines.

"It's scary," Masaki whimpered as she clung to Rukia.

"Don't worry sweety, it's his sword, it wouldn't hurt anyone who he didn't want to hurt. Even now, he isn't trying hurt your father, he wants to see how strong he is. It's just like when Uncle Grimmjow and your father would fight," Rukia explained while stroking her daughter's hair. This reassured Masaki enough to turn back to the fight.

Sentaro and Kiyone were amazed by Susamji Ryuujin, and stood there with their mouths wide open, rendered speechless. Ukitake looked on in amazement and pride, and the others admired it quietly.

"I have to admit, your Bankai is awesome!" Ichigo shouted up to Cain, then continued, "But I prefer mine, easier to manage." To prove his point he swung Tensa Zangetsu a few times.

Cain smirked as he replied, "We'll see about that." Without warning the dragon let loose a stream of fire from its mouth whcih Ichigo leapt into the air to avoid, only to come face to face with Cain and quickly block a slash from the sword Cain still held. Ichigo jumped back from Cain and the dragon attacked him with its claws which he also blocked and used shunpo to get around and higher into the air where he could see both Cain and the dragon.

Ichigo swung his sword as he yelled, "Getsuga Tenshou!" The black moon fang flew straight down towards Cain.

Cain saw the attack coming and countered with his own attack by swinging his sword and shouting, "Kamaitachi!" The two attacks collided in midair resulting in another explosion, but with a much stronger shockwave than before.

As the explosion cleared the dragon once again appeared before Ichigo and began to attack him with its claws and fangs, Ichigo struggled to block each of the attacks, the dragon's brute strength was was great. "This is getting really old really fast!" Ichigo shouted. He then concentrated a large amount of reiatsu into a swing and managed to push the dragon back. "Ha!" Ichigo exclaimed with a smirk. The dragon's wings reared back and began to glow with a green light, as Ichigo realized what was about to happen, his smirk vanished and he mumbled, "Ah shit." The dragon's wings came forward and released a less concentrated Kamaitachi which Ichigo crossed his arms in front of his face to protect himself from, but he still received numerous deep cuts. As soon as the attack ended, Ichigo didn't waste a second and used his boosted speed to get past the dragon and locked blades with Cain, after a moment Ichigo quietly said, "Getsuga Tenshou." Cain's eyes widened in surprise before he was engulfed by the attack. Ichigo then put some distance between himself and both Cain and the dragon.

Before Cain was visible again the dragon charged at Ichigo again, Ichigo managed to dodge all of the slashes, but as he tried to get above ithe was swatted out of the air and slammed into the ground with enough force to make a crater. Cain emerged from froma cloud of smoke, bleeding profusely from a large gash,and the dragon returned to his side by some silent command. Moments later Ichigo leapt from the crater and stared Cain down once more.

"Your Bankai is as powerful as it looks Cain," Ichigo stated inbetween pants.

"And yours is as powerful as I had heard." Cain replied. When they had both regained their composure Cain continued to talk, "However, this is not your full power. I saw you earlier, you can become something closer to a Hollow, a Vizard, and increase your power dramatically. Bring out your mask and fight me at your full power."

"I'm not going to do that, there's no reason to. I'm not proud of that power and only use it when I absolutely need to," Ichigo replied.

"I understand that, and it's a noble way of thinking Ichigo. Unfortunately, I can not accept that answer, I need to see your full strength. Even if I have to make you bring it out!" Cain exclaimed. He then brought his left hand up and covered the left side of his face.

Everyone gasped at this motion, for they all recognized it. "No way, you mean to tell me that..." Ichigo muttered.

"That's right," Cain stated simply. A dark reiatsu gathered in his left hand and slowly dragged his fingers across his face. After a moment the reiatsu solidified into a white mask of a Hollow. Cain's mask was a similar shape to Ichigo's, though the chin came to a well defined point and there were long, sharp spines protruding from the mask's edges, and the mask was covered on both sides by intricate interlocking black swirls. Cain's eyes snapped open to reveal that they had changed colors: yellow irises and black whites. Susamaji Ryuujin also changed: its scales changed to a much darker shade of green and its red eyes changed to a chilling yellow. "Now bring out your mask Ichigo, you cannot hope to beat me now without it," Cain stated, his voicing having changed into more of a hiss after donning his mask.

"I assume you won't just let me refuse," Ichigo said loudly. Cain shook his head in response and Ichigo brought his left hand to his face. "Fine, have it your way," Ichigo said as his mask formed over his face. Ichigo didn't waste a second and vanished before reappearing behind Cain and aiming a slash at his back only to have Cain dodge and the dragon counter attack for him, Ichigo blocked the attack and used shunpo to chase after Cain. Ichigo and Cain traded blows and locked blades for several moments, each avoiding the attacks of Susamaji Ryuujin when it would aid Cain, but Ichigo's speed rendered its attacks less effective than before. After a few minutes they parted and landed on the ground, both panting and each had acquired more wounds. Ichigo watched Cain carefully, looking for signs of his next move. _'I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, I've used up most of my reiatsu already,' _Ichigo thought to himself. Cain raised his left arm and pointed his open palm at Ichigo, fingers curved inwards, Ichigo raised an cocked his head slightly in confusion.

"I hope you know how to use Cero blasts," Cain stated as crimson reiatsu began to build up in his hand. Ichigo's eyes widened in shock before he pointed his left index and middle fingers at Cain and began to charge a Cero of his own. "Good," Cain mumbled as he held the Cero in his hand, waiting for Ichigo's to fully charge. Once Ichigo's was carged, both Vizards let their attacks loose at the same time, the blasts collided and ripped the ground apart beneath them. Both Cain and Ichigo forced more reiatsu into the attacks, but Cain's eventually over powered Ichigo's. Ichigo jumped into the air to avoid the Cero which hit a kido training target and exploded violently. Ichigo looked to Cain just as he shouted, "Kamaitachi!" and swung his sword in Ichigo's direction.

"Shit! Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo shouted as he swung his sword down. The two attacks collided and cancelled each other in an explosion. Ichigo then slowly lowered himself until he was on the ground, panting heavily, as was Cain, they had both used up almost all of their reiatsu at this point. Suddenly, both of their masks crumbled to nothing, they no longer had enough reiatsu to sustain them.

"Ichigo, dismiss your Bankai, there's no more need for it. I've seen what I needed to see," Cain said as he sealed Ryuujin back into its sealed form.

Ichigo returned Zangetsu to its Shikai and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"You will see, in time. I apologize for this," Cain replied as he raised his hand and flung what looked like a bolt of black lightning at Ichigo.

The lightning hit Ichigo but it didn't cause him any pain, he looked at himself in confusion as black sparks jumped across his skin. He suddenly felt faint, he fell to the ground as he lost consciousness. He faintly heard Rukia shout his name and Cain say that he would be fine after he rested.

The last thing he heard before he completely lost conciousness was a voice he hadn't heard in years say, _'You're so pathetic. I would've shown him what real power is, King.'_

**A/N: That's it for this chapter, I really hadn't intended for the fight to be that long, but I got so wrapped up in writing it I lost track of it. I'm going to be taking a break from typing this for a while, I have to work on the novel I've been writing, and get stuff straightened out for college next month. So until I next update, I hope you all enjoyed this and please Review so I know what you thought of it.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Return

**AN: I'm surprised that nobody reviewed Chapter 10, and a bit dissapointed. I really hope that at least my usual reviewers will review this one. PLEASE R&R.**

**_Bleach: True Darkness_**

_**Chapter 11: The Return**_

Ichigo slowly regained consciousness, but he kept his eyes closed. He was aware that he was now in a bed, most likely in the Squad 4 relief center, and that Rukia, their son and daughter, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime were in the room. He thought about the dreams he had while he was out, they were flashbacks to his encounters with his inner Hollow, and some were worst case scenarios that could've happened had he not suppressed his Hollow years ago. What worried him the most was the voice he had heard before losing consciousness, those two sentences kept replaying in his mind, _"You're so pathetic. I would've shown him what real power is, King." _

Ichigo was honestly frightened, and thought to himself, _'What if he's back? Will I be able to stop him again….or will he win this time? If he is back, how did he break loose, was it Cain?'_ A thought then occurred, usually when Ichigo thought about his inner Hollow back then, it usually had some remark to reply with, yet none came. _'Maybe it was just my imagination,'_ he thought to himself as he opened his eyes.

Rukia was sitting in a chair to Ichigo's immediate right, though at the moment she was watching Kaien and Masaki sleep in the chairs they had been sitting in, Uryu and Orihime had also fallen asleep: Uryu was stretched out as far as he could get, with his head resting against the wall, and Orihime's head was resting on his shoulder, Chad was the only one watching him at the moment, but instead of stating Ichigo was awake, he nodded at him, which Ichigo returned, and Zangetsu was left leaning against the wall to the left of the bed.

Rukia turned back to him and quickly exclaimed, "Ichigo! You're awake!" This woke the sleeping occupants of the room up with a start.

Kaien and Masaki jumped up onto the bed and wrapped their arms around Ichigo's neck and he quickly wrapped his arms around them while saying, "Hey, it's alright, I'm fine."

"You really had us worried, you've been out for about five hours," Rukia stated with a relieved tone and tired eyes.

Ichigo thought for a moment before asking, "What did Cain do to me?"

"It looked to me like it was some type of kido, maybe designed to cause the enemy to lose consciousness," Uryu stated.

"But why would he use it if the sparring match was already over?" Orihime asked.

Before anyone could offer an explanation, Unohana walked into the room. "I'm glad to see you're awake Captain Kurosaki, how are you feeling?" she asked as she looked between a medical chart and Ichigo.

"I feel fine, a little drowsy, but fine," Ichigo replied.

Unohana nodded before continuing, "As far as I could determine, what Cain Nightshade used on you was some type of kido designed to, as Uryu said, cause unconsciousness. Besides that I could find nothing wrong with you, did you experience anything when he used it on you, or while you were asleep?"

Ichigo immediately knew that he could not tell her he had heard his inner Hollow's voice, so he replied, "When he used it I felt disorientated, and while I was asleep I had nightmares, they were memories of certain events."

Unohana wrote a few things down before saying, "Well Captain Kurosaki, you seem to be just fine, but I ask that you spend the night here for observation, just to be safe."

"Sure, no problem Captain Unohana," Ichigo replied as Unohana left the room.

A few moments later, Uryu and Orihime stood up as Uryu said with a smirk, "I think we'll be going now that we know there's nothing wrong with you but drowsiness."

"Geeee, thanks Uryu," Ichigo replied as he laid his head back on the pillow.

"Bye everybody!" Orihime cheered as she and Uryu left the room.

Chad stood and nodded his goodbye, but Ichigo called out, "Wait a sec Chad, can you take Kaien and Masaki to get something to eat? I need to talk to Rukia about something."

Chad and Rukia looked at him with a questioning expression, but when Chad saw how serious Ichigo was he said, "Sure. Come on you two, let's go get some food."

Kaien and Masaki looked at Rukia for a moment before she said, "It's alright, go with Uncle Chad and get some food, you both must be hungry." Kaien and Masaki went with Chad who shut the door as they left to give Ichigo and Rukia some privacy. Ichigo didn't look at Rukia and had a frightened expression on his face. "Ichigo, what's wrong?" Rukia asked with a worried tone as she put her hand over his.

"I'm afraid," Ichigo replied shortly.

"You, afraid? You've never been afraid of anything except for your inner Hollow," Rukia stated with a look of shock on her face.

"Exactly," Ichigo stated.

"What do you mean? You're not saying that –," Rukia asked but was cut off.

"I heard him Rukia. Right before I lost consciousness, he spoke to me. All the dreams I had were flashbacks to my encounters with him, and some worst case scenarios. I haven't heard him again, I was hoping it was just my imagination, but I can feel him, he's back," Ichigo said as he finally turned to face Rukia, the fear in his eyes clear as day.

Rukia practically jumped out of the chair and onto the bed where she wrapped her arms around Ichigo's neck and clung to him almost as if she let go he would fade away. Ichigo returned the embrace; Rukia buried her head in the crook of his neck and shook slightly as she sobbed quietly. After a few minutes she raised her head and looked Ichigo in the eyes, hers were red from the tears. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"If he starts to act up, I'll have to go and find the Vizards to get their help again, I won't risk him taking over again," Ichigo replied.

After a while, Rukia regained her composure and went towards the door. "Where are you going?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm going to ask my brother to watch Kaien and Masaki for the night, then I'm going to go get some answers from Cain," Rukia replied before she stormed out the door.

* * *

After seeing the state Rukia was in, Byakuya agreed to take care of his niece and nephew for the night, it was clear to him that something was wrong.

Rukia was now walking through the Squad 13 grounds, she had asked Ukitake where Cain was and he had said that Cain had always been fond of a particular spot in the garden the squad maintained, Rukia knew of this spot and was on a war path. As she neared the spot, she heard somebody humming a peaceful melody, with curiosity she looked through one of the hedges and saw it was Cain, his wounds had been healed, and he was fingering a diamond ring on a silver chain that hung around his neck, nobody had noticed this before because it had been concealed beneath his shirt. Rukia was about to charge through the hedge and confront him when he started to sing the song that obviously went with the tune he had been humming.

_In this world of circumstance, children never fear forever. _

_And this moment that in chance, someday, we may both remember. _

_Then, maybe then, if we are still alive. _

_Then, maybe then, this moment will survive. _

_There is time in every word; there are words in every reason. _

_And these notes that are unheard, one day, they may find their season. _

_Then, maybe then, if we are still alive. Then, maybe then, this moment will survive. _

_Then, maybe then, if we are still alive. _

_Then, maybe then, this moment will survive. _

_Will survive…._

Rukia was stunned by how poetic the song was, and that Cain had sung so beautifully, it almost sounded like something she would find in one of Ichigo's Shakespeare books.Cain then turned towards her location and said, "Alright come out, I know you're there." Rukia stepped around the hedge and confronted Cain. "You're Rukia right?" he asked.

"Yes. I want to know what you did to Ichigo, why can he hear his inner Hollow again?" Rukia demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't go into the details right now, but I assure you that it is needed. I promise you that I did not want to do this, I would never reawaken a Vizard's inner Hollow unless there was no other choice," Cain replied.

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

"I'll tell you what I told him: you will see, in time, maybe even within the next few days," Cain answered.

After a moment Rukia asked, "Who was she?"

Cain's eyes widened in confusion before asking, "What are you talking about?"

"That ring you have on that chain is an engagement ring, who did it belong to?" Rukia elaborated.

Cain took the ring out again and looked at it with a longing expression before answering, "Her name was Akemi Higure, we first met at the Academy, but didn't really get to know each other until she joined Squad 13 a year after I did. In the same time I worked my way up to 3rd seat, she worked her way up to 6th. We became close friends, and eventually fell for each other. I loved her more than anything, we were so happy. I asked her to marry me, she cried and said yes about a hundred times."

"What happened to her?" Rukia asked warily.

"About a month after I asked her to marry me, we were sent to the living world, we were ambushed by a very powerful Hollow and she was critically wounded, and didn't survive," Cain replied with a solemn tone and depressed expression.

"And the song?" Rukia asked.

"I learned that song a long time ago, before I came to Soul Society. Akemi loved that song, so I would sing it to her frequently," Cain replied. They were silent for a few moments before Cain said, "Just trust me Rukia, I have my reasons for awakening Ichigo's inner Hollow, and if by some remote chance that something happens to him, my life is yours to take." With that said, he walked away from Rukia to wherever it was he was staying.

Rukia remained for a moment before heading back to Ichigo at the relief station.

* * *

For the next few days, Ichigo took it easy and rested much more than he would have liked. Rukia remained the only person besides Cain that knew of Ichigo's true condition. His inner Hollow remained silent, but its presence within his soul was unquestionable.

Ichigo and Rukia were on their way home from the Squad 5 office when the emergency alarm sounded. Immediately after, Yamamoto's voice sounded through the air, "All captains and lieutenants report to the meeting hall immediately." They nodded at each other and took off at top speed towards the meeting hall.

About half way there they met up with Renji and Izuru. "Looks like it's finally time," Renji stated.

"Yeah, but if that thing can survive being blown to a million pieces, what could any of us do to it?" Ichigo asked him.

"Don't start that again, if it can be given life it can also have it taken away," Rukia stated.

"That's right, there has to be some way of killing it," Izuru added. They remained silent the rest of the way to the meeting hall. When they arrived, everyone was trying to get through the doors at the same time, which was quickly resolved by Kenpachi shoving them out of his way. After a few moments everyone was in their places, including Hitsugaya, though he still wasn't completely recovered.

Uryu, Orihime, and Chad stood with Ichigo and Rukia as usual, and Cain stood with Ukitake, Kiyone, and Sentaro. Yamamoto began the meeting by saying, "Ranmyaku and Satosuke have been located."

"So what's the plan?" Ichigo asked immediately.

"This creature is far more powerful than we originally expected, this was made painfully clear by the result of the last mission. Therefore, Captain Ukitake, Captain Kyoraku, and I are the only ones going to on this mission. I will not send anymore warriors to their deaths," Yamamoto replied. Everyone except for the mentioned captains and Cain either gasped slightly or quickly changed the stance, showing that they were uncomfortable with this decision.

"What the fuck is this bullshit?! Why the hell can't I go and fight?" Kenpachi demanded.

"This decision is not negotiable Captain Zaraki," Yamamoto stated in a stern voice.

"Besides, you would be useless, all you're good for is cutting something up, which clearly does not work on this creature," Mayuri said with a mocking tone.

Kenpachi turned towards him and asked, "What the hell did you just say?"

"You heard me, you're a useless, hack and slash, oaf," Mayuri replied with a laugh.

Kenpachi gripped the hilt of his zanpakutou and asked, "Wanna try proving that?"

You're not worth my time," Mayuri stated dismissively.

Kenpachi charged at Mayuri, but before he could attack the demented scientist, Isshin appeared in front of him and to everyone's surprise, managed to stop him.

"What the hell are you doing Kurosaki?" Kenpachi asked angrily.

"Keeping you from doing something that'll get you locked up, he's not worth it," Isshin replied, earning a glare from Mayuri. He then continued, "I know you want to fight this thing, but with your way of fighting you can't possibly win. I don't like the decision they made either, as I'm sure most of us don't, but those three are the strongest out of all thirteen of us, so if anyone has a chance it's them." Many of the room's occupants nodded in agreement.

Kenpachi also nodded while cursing under his breath and returned to his position. Yamamoto waited until Kenpachi was calmed down before continuing, "The target has been located over the body of water that separates the region known as Japan from the mainland, and is rapidly approaching Japan." The large screen lowered down and a map was displayed, showing Ranmyaku's position and course.

Several of the room's occupants took on a panicked expression, Ichigo was the one who voiced their concern, "If he keeps that course, the first populated area he finds will be Karakura!"

Renji let out an exasperated sigh and asked to nobody in particular, "Why does that town attract so much trouble?"

"We are already aware of this, and are evacuating Karakura as we did when Aizen attacked, we are leaving that to Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihion. We plan to intercept Ranmyaku and Satosuke as they make land fall, before they reach Karakura," Ukitake stated replied.

"The three of us shall be leaving shortly, I ask that the rest of you remain here in the meeting hall should something happen and you are needed right away, Captain Hitsugaya is exempt from this as he is still recovering from his encounter with this creature," Yamamoto stated loudly.

Yamamoto, Ukitake, and Shunsui departed for the living world within minutes of the meeting coming to an end, and those remaining made themselves slightly more in the meeting hall, though they all were uneasy and tense. They watched the screen and saw that Ranmyaku had hit land a half hour after the meeting ended, they knew that the fight had just started. As time passed, Ranmyaku continued further inland, but at a much slower rate, until he eventually hit Karakura, meaning the battle was now being fought in the deserted town.

Not long after the battle reached the city, the screen changed to a feed from Central 46. The man on the screen said, "The battle has taken a turn for the worst, Captains Ukitake and Kyoraku are down but still alive, Captain Commander Yamamoto is still fighting, but won't be able to hold out much longer."

The room went into an uproar of disbelief. Rukia was clearly afraid now and asked to herself, "If they can't do it, is there anyone who can?"

Byakuya alone retained his composure and asked the official, "Can anything be done?"

"I was getting to that Captain Kuchiki. Squad 4 will be sent in to get them out of there, but a distraction is needed. Captain Kuchiki and Captain Ichigo Kurosaki will be sent in to distract Ranmyaku, their abilities make them the perfect choices for this mission," the official replied. Rukia was about to protest, but the official noticed and continued, "This is not negotiable, they are the best suited for this mission."

Rukia turned to Ichigo with a expression of pure fear, Ichigo noticed this and embraced her while saying, "I'll be careful, and I swear I'll come back. And I'll make sure the stick in the mud comes back as well."

This earned a small laugh from Rukia and a slight glare from Byakuya. Byakuya then walked over and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and said, "We'll be careful, do not worry."

After a moment, Ichigo released Rukia and gave her a quick kiss before turning to Byakuya and saying, "Alright, let's go." Byakuya nodded in response before the left the hall and used shunpo to get to the Gate.

* * *

A fist collided with Yamamoto's face, finally putting him out of commission, Ranmyaku and Satosuke watched as he silently dropped from the sky and crashed through the roof of one of the buildings far below. Ukitake was unconscious and half buried under the remains of a convenience store two miles to the south, and Shunsui out cold on the bank of the river with the water lapping at his legs five miles to the west.

"I have to say, those three put up much more of a fight than the ones before, they must have been the elite captains," Satosuke stated in amusement. After a moment he shouted, "Finish the other two off!"

Ranmyaku held both hands out, one facing Ukitake, the other Shunsui, and began to charge up blasts of reiatsu. After a few seconds he released the spheres of energy. Two separate voices were heard shouting, "Getsuga Tenshou!" "Hado Number Four, White Lightning!" An energy slash intercepted one blast while a bolt of lightning got the other.

"What the hell?" Satosuke asked as he turned to towards the sources of the voices. He saw two Shinigami standing in the air, both with captain's haoris, one with a large cleaver in his hand and orange, spiky hair, the other with a sheathed zanpakutou, an expensive looking scarf, and long black hair held in place by noble hair pieces.

"Whew, I don't think we could've cut that any closer if we tried," Ichigo stated with a sigh while resting Zangetsu on his shoulder.

"Agreed," Byakuya replied as he placed his hand on Senbonzakura's hilt.

"Captain Kurosaki, a pleasure to finally meet you in person, and who is this?" Satosuke asked in a condescending tone.

"Oh right, introductions: Byakuya this is Satosuke, Satosuke this is my stick in the mud brother-in-law Byakuya Kuchiki," Ichigo replied in a hurried tone, earning another glare from Byakuya.

"Well, that aside, the two of you couldn't have come here to fight, not after what Ranmyaku did to those other three captains," Satosuke stated.

"That is exactly why we are here," Byakuya replied coldly.

"Well that is…foolish," Satosuke said in an amused tone. He then turned his head to Ranmyaku and said, "Get ready to take them down." Ranmyaku quickly moved to stand between Satosuke and the two captains.

"Alright Byakuya, there's no point in holding back, right?" Ichigo asked with a slight glance in Byakuya's direction while he held Zangetsu to the side and Byakuya unsheathed his zanpakutou.

"Correct," Byakuya replied as he switched Senbonzakura to a reverse grip in front of him with the tip down. Ichigo smirked as he put held Zangetsu in front of him with the tip facing Ranmyaku and the cloth wrapped around his arm.

"Bankai!" they shouted simultaneously. Ranmyaku watched curiously and waited for one of the other to reappear from the light they had been engulfed by. Suddenly huge streams of small, flower petal-like blades flew out of the light and began trying to capture Ranmyaku.

Ranmyaku was able to easily dodge the blades, but failed to notice approaching from the side with his enhanced speed. By the time he did notice, it was too late and Ichigo managed to cut him in half at the waist, then get away before Senbonzakura's countless blades closed in to shred Ranmyaku to pieces. Unnoticed by the four in the air, the Gate reopened on the ground and several members of Squad 4 rushed out and towards the three defeated captains.

Ichigo appeared a few paces from Byakuya and asked, "How long do you think that will buy us?" Byakuya commanded the blades away to reveal Ranmyaku's mutilated body, already regenerating.

"Not very long unfortunately," Byakuya replied with a grimace. A moment later Ranmyaku charged at Ichigo, who even with his speed, had trouble dodging. Byakuya immediately began to direct Senbonzakura's blades with his hands to try to get Ranmyaku off Ichigo's trail. Ichigo would sever one of Ranmyaku's limbs, or even his head, when he got too close, but whatever was cut off would just regenerate or reattach. Any damage caused by a passing of Senbonzakura's blades healed even faster. Out of frustration Ichigo released a Getsuga, which bought him a few seconds, and went back over to Byakuya.

"This isn't working, Senbonzakura can't inflict enough damage, and me cutting him up is useless," Ichigo stated while panting slightly.

Byakuya glanced down and saw the Squad 4 members carrying the defeated captains toward one spot and replied, "We only have to distract him for a few more moments, I have an idea."

"You've got my attention," Ichigo stated impatiently as he watched Ranmyaku begin to regenerate.

"I'll use Senbonzakura to cover you, and you use your mask, get to point blank range, and hit him with a full power Getsuga or a Cero, whichever you can use faster," Byakuya replied.

Ichigo twitched slightly, unnoticed by Byakuya, and thought to himself, _'Can I even use my Hollow powers now that _he's _back?' _After he looked and saw that Ranmyaku was almost finished regenerating, he realized he had no choice. "Alright, let's do it," he said after a moment. He then brought his left hand to his face and began to build up the dark reiatsu. Byakuya immediately surrounded Ranmyaku with the countless blades and did as much damage as he could. After a moment Ranmyaku blew the blades away with a pulse of reiatsu, and came face to face with a white mask with red stripes along the left half and chilling black and yellow eyes, and a black sword with dark reiatsu pouring from it. Before he could react, Ichigo coldly said, "Getsuga Tenshou." Ranmyaku was engulfed by the attack as it streaked towards the ground and exploded, taking out an entire block of the city as it did so.

As Satosuke watched this he thought to himself, _'That mask, what the hell is he? This reiatsu, it feels like a mixture of Shinigami and Hollow reiatsu, it's the same as the Arrancar!'_

Byakuya looked down to see that the Gate had just closed, meaning they had succeeded in their mission: the three defeated captains had been rescued. He used shunpo to get over to Ichigo and said, "Kurosaki, we should leave now before he regenerates again." Ichigo did not reply, and seemed to be twitching slightly. "Ichigo?" Byakuya asked, thinking that the rarity of him referring to Ichigo by his given name would get a reaction. The only reaction that Ichigo showed was swinging his sword around erratically and clawing at his mask. "Kurosaki what's wrong?" Byakuya asked loudly.

Suddenly the right half of Ichigo's mask shattered, and his left arm became incased by a white, bone-like exoskeleton with red, interlocking lines running down the side, the fingers ending in wicked claws. Byakuya's eyes widened as he leapt back, narrowly avoiding Tensa Zangetsu as it was swung at him, still receiving a large slash across the chest, but not life threatening.

Ichigo turned to face him with a demented smile on his face and said in a voice that clearly was not his, "I remember you, it's been a while! Our last fight was interrupted, let's pick up where we left off, with me kicking your ass!" With that said he charged at Byakuya, dark reiatsu pouring from his sword.

**A/N: Sorry this update took so long, but I've been very busy lately and haven't had much time to work on this. Not much to say about this, except that the song Cain was singing is an actual song, called _The_ _Moment_, which was composed by Beethoven. Please review! **


	12. Chapter 12: Unexpected Rescue

**A/N: I know that this update is very late and I apologize for this. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted the story to go in, I had a few ideas to sort through. Please Read and Review.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter 12: Unexpected Rescue**

Byakuya just barely managed to bring his sword up in time to block the Hollow's attack with Tensa Zangetsu, but the power behind the attack sent him flying backwards at a high velocity.

'_Such strength, and that wasn't even his best attack. I hate to admit it but I won't be able to last very long against this monster,' _Byakuya thought to himself as he regained his footing. "How are you in control, I thought Kurosaki suppressed you years ago," Byakuya said to the Hollow as he glared at him.

"Ha! Like that pathetic bastard could possibly keep me locked up forever, I told him I'd be back someday. Now that I'm control again after so long, I'm going to make sure that I kill you this time!" the Hollow replied with its demented laugh and grin. Without any further talk he charged in to attack Byakuya once again.

* * *

Back in Soul Society, the captains and lieutenants were all watching the battle in Karakura in shock. When Ichigo and Byakuya had managed to temporarily render Ranmyaku unable to fight, they had cheered, but when Ichigo suddenly attack Byakuya with a half mask on his face and his arm encased in some kind of exoskeleton, they had been rendered speechless.

Nobody in the room had ever seen Ichigo when his Hollow was in control, and it disturbed most of them, except Kenpachi. Kenpachi kept going on about how he'd like to fight Ichigo's Hollow. Rukia was the most visibly affected, she had tears forming in her eyes from seeing Ichigo like this and the fact that the Hollow was trying to kill her brother, but she refused to let the tears fall when there were so many people around.

The door suddenly flew open as Chad, Uryu, Orihime, and Nel ran in while Uryu shouted, "We heard something happened to Ichigo and Byakuya!"

They immediately gathered around Rukia, upon seeing she had tears in her eyes. "Rukia! What happened?" Orihime asked as she shook Rukia's shoulders, but she was unresponsive.

Renji and Matsumoto walked up and Renji said, "Just look at the screen and you'll see."

They all looked at the screen at once and saw the possessed Ichigo attack Byakuya, and they could tell that Byakuya was being overwhelmed.

"Ichigo!" Chad shouted upon seeing his friend in such a state.

"What happened to him?" Orihime asked with wide, fearful eyes when she heard the voice that came out of Ichigo's mouth.

"It's his Hollow, I've never seen this happen to him, this is very bad," Uryu stated as calmly as he could, Nel was speechless.

Orihime then immediately turned and embraced Rukia as tightly as she could, to let her friend know she was there for her. Rukia couldn't stop herself, she returned the embrace and started to cry uncontrollably into Orihime's shoulder.

Isshin walked up to them and put a hand on Rukia's shoulder and said in a serious, yet comforting voice, "Don't worry, Ichigo is too strong and stubborn to let that monster stay in control for very long. Your brother is the same way, he won't let himself be killed, and he won't kill Ichigo because he knows it would it destroy you." Rukia turned her head to face Isshin and slowly nodded, his words did help her slightly, but she couldn't help but fear the worst in this situation.

The others turned to watch the fight closely, hoping that Ichigo would regain control soon.

* * *

Byakuya used shunpo to evade another erratic swing and put distance between himself and Ichigo's Hollow. He had been trying for the last few minutes to re-release his Bankai, but the Hollow wouldn't give him enough time to do so.

Suddenly an idea came to Byakuya and instantly pointed at Ichigo's body and shouted, "_Bakudo Number 61, Six Rods of Light Prison_!" Ichigo's body was immediately pinned in place by the rods of light.

"What the hell is this?! You think this can hold me?" Ichigo's Hollow shouted as he began to struggle against the powerful kido.

As this was happening Byakuya was already in the process of dropping his zanpakutou. "Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," he said as he released his zanpakutou.

"Damnit, your Bankai is fucking annoying," Ichigo's Hollow mumbled as he released a massive amount of reiatsu, effectively shattering the kido that had held him in place. He then immediately sent a _Getsuga_ at Byakuya, who used the millions of blades to form a wall and protect himself. Hollow Ichigo then used shunpo to appear near Byakuya and tried slashing him several times, only to have each attack blocked. He then attempted to stab Byakuya, a solid wall of flower petal blades formed to stop the sword.

As Hollow Ichigo continued to try to drive Tensa Zangetsu into the wall of blades, it actually started to force its way through. _'Damn, Senbonzakura isn't strong enough to stop him!' _Byakuya thought to himself as he saw this. With a shout of triumph and a burst of dark reiatsu, Hollow Ichigo broke through the protective wall of blades, Byakuya jumped back but the blade still managed to stab him, about an inch deep, two inches below the ribs.

* * *

From the moment Ranmyaku had been blown to pieces by Ichigo's _Getsuga_, Satosuke had been watching the following events in confusion. "What the hell is going on? It's like he suddenly became an entirely different person, almost like he's possessed," he said to himself.

He looked at the ground and saw that the pieces of Ranmyaku were beginning to make their way towards each other. "Oh well, in a few minutes it won't matter, they'll both be dead regardless of what else is going on," he said with a grin.

* * *

Byakuya quickly gathered some of the loose blades and compressed them into a sword in order to block an attack aimed for his chest, Hollow Ichigo had managed to get past the tiny blades surrounding him. He managed to block the attack, but not completely; the force of the attack caused Byakuya's blade to shatter, deflecting Tensa Zangetsu enough for the wound inflicted not to be fatal, and send Byakuya flying backwards about fifty feet.

Byakuya stood and glared at Hollow Ichigo while clutching his new wound. He tried to move his legs to get into a better stance, but found that he could not move them. _'What? How can I be in this condition already,' _he thought to himself. He then noticed that the reiatsu being released from Hollow Ichigo was what was keeping him from moving. _'Impossible, it's almost as if I'm standing near Captain Commander Yamamoto when he's raising his reiatsu, how can he be this powerful?' _he thought in panic. Byakuya wasn't the only one affected; Satosuke also found himself immobilized by the oppressive reiatsu, much to his dislike.

"Well, kicking your ass has been fun and all, but it's time for you to die!" Hollow Ichigo shouted. He then raised Tensa Zangetsu above his head and began to build up a massive amount of dark reiatsu in the blade. That's not all he did though, he also held out his left hand with the pointer and middle fingers extended and began to charge a _Cero_.

"What the hell is he doing?" Byakuya asked to himself as his eyes widened slightly.

"It's over, _Cero Tenshou!_" Hollow Ichigo shouted as he swung the sword down and brought his left hand forward at the same time. Both attacks fired at once; the _Getsuga _wrapped around the _Cero_ so that it spiraled around it, making the combined attack looked almost like a drill.

Byakuya watched in horror as the attack closed in on him, and then suddenly felt somebody grab him by the back of his robes and pull him out of the way with a shunpo.

Hollow Ichigo looked up angrily at Byakuya and his rescuer when his attack missed, and glared when he saw who it was. "It's _you, _you bastard. You just have to keep ruining my fun don't you?!" he shouted at the person.

Byakuya looked up at the person who saved him, and almost gasped when he saw the blonde hair in a bowl cut, and the care free, goofy grin plastered on the man's face. "You…," he said quietly.

"Good to see ya Byakuya, having a bit of trouble are we?" the man replied casually.

"Hirako, I am in your debt," Byakuya said calmly, yet grudgingly.

"Nah, don't mention it. Couldn't just let ya die could I?" Shinji said as he waved his free hand in dismissal to Byakuya's statement. He then turned to face Hollow Ichigo and shouted, "And yes, I do have to ruin your fun! The look on your face was priceless when that attack of yours missed!"

Hollow Ichigo sneered in response and shouted, "You son of a bitch, I'm going to enjoy killing you! It's because of you that I was locked up for so long!"

"He's got quite the anger management problem, huh Byakuya?" Shinji asked in a whisper.

Byakuya couldn't understand how Shinji could be so relaxed, he knew Shinji was powerful, but Hollow Ichigo's powers for some reason now rivaled the Captain Commander's. "I suppose so," Byakuya replied.

Shinji nodded, then shouted, "Kensei!" With no warning he unceremoniously tossed Byakuya over his shoulder to where Kensei stood waiting with the other Vizards, which Byakuya did not appreciate.

"Hirako, what are you doing?" Byakuya asked as he regained his composure.

"Don't worry Byakuya, after using that much reiatsu in one attack, he's nowhere near full power anymore. Now when I tell ya, open the Senkaimon. Got it?" Shinji replied as he unsheathed his zanpakutou.

Byakuya didn't like the fact that he was being ordered around by Shinji, but realized that the Vizard was being far more serious now, and most likely had a plan. "Understood," he replied as he dismissed his Bankai, letting the single sword reform in his hand, ready to open the gate to Soul Society at any moment.

Shinji nodded as he materialized his mask and placed it over his face, once wearing it his reiatsu went through the roof. "Now then, let's have some," he stated as he used shunpo to close the gap between Hollow Ichigo and himself.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Hollow Ichigo shouted with demented joy as he also used shunpo. They reappeared with their blades locked, each struggling for dominance, then Shinji jumped back and let loose a barrage of quick attacks which Hollow Ichigo managed to block. Hollow Ichigo then locked their blades again and said, "_Getsuga Tenshou." _

Shinji immediately used shunpo to dodge before the attack was launched, making it useless. "You'll have to do better than that. You may have more raw power at your disposal, but I have far more experience than you and Ichigo combined, and when I'm wearing my mask I can match your speed," he stated coldly as he reappeared about twenty feet behind Hollow Ichigo.

"Then try this!" Hollow Ichigo shouted as he spun around and launched another _Getsuga_ and used shunpo right after. Shinji jumped above the _Getsuga_ and then blocked the downward swing of Tensa Zangetsu, but was forced back by the power behind it, and was forced to go on the defensive as Hollow Ichigo let loose several quick, erratic attacks. Though Shinji managed to block the attacks, he still received several cuts on his torso before he managed to force Hollow Ichigo back.

"I think it's about time I finished this, can't let ya have control any longer. Nothing personal, ya understand right?" Shinji asked innocently.

"Screw you! I already told you that I'm going to kill you!" Hollow Ichigo shouted in response. He then prepared to attack again, but stop when he saw Shinji start to charge two _Ceros_. "What the hell…." he began, but was cut off when Shinji fired the one in his sword hand at him, which he easily dodged. He was expecting Shinji to fire the second _Cero_ right after, which is why he was surprised when Shinji appeared right in front of him. "Shit!" he shouted right before Shinji used his zanpakutou to cut the Hollow mask on Ichigo's face, shattering it and sending Hollow Ichigo back inside Ichigo's soul.

Shinji sheathed his own sword while catching Tensa Zangetsu and threw it to Rose, then caught Ichigo's unconscious body over his shoulder. He then fired the other _Cero_ straight down, into Ranmyaku's regenerating body.

"Now Byakuya!" Shinji shouted as he used shunpo to join the others. Byakuya immediately opened the Senkaimon and the Vizards, carrying Ichigo and Byakuya, leapt through into Soul Society, the gate closing behind them.

* * *

Byakuya hadn't had time to properly choose a destination, but he managed to drop them in the Seireitei, at the Soukyokou Hill to be exact . As they landed, the Vizards looked around with reflective expressions, though they chose not to return to Soul Society after their names had been cleared, they still missed their old home.

Not two minutes later, the captains, lieutenants, and Ichigo's friends had arrived to take Byakuya and Ichigo to the Squad 4 Relief Station, and to thank the Vizards for their help.

"Hirako, thank you so much for saving them, I don't know what I would've done if either of them died, or worse," Rukia said to Shinji, with the remains of tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it Rukia. Ichigo's one of us, we look out for each other so I couldn't just standby and do nothing, and I couldn't let him kill Byakuya either. And I'm not gonna tell ya again, just call me Shinji," he replied with a smile.

"Hey, Shinji, look," Kensei said as he tapped him on the shoulder.

Shinji turned to face the same direction as the other Vizards, and his eyes widened when he saw Cain standing there. "I had a feeling you were behind this, Cain old buddy," Shinji said cheerfully, most of the others smiled as he said this.

"It's good to see you all again, we have a lot to talk about," Cain said as he indicated that they should follow him.

"Right. Hey we'll be back in a little while, we'll meet you all at the Relief Station," Shinji said before he and all the other Vizards, Cain included, vanished using shunpo.

The others just stared after them before heading to the Relief Station.

* * *

"Well those fights were interesting to watch, especially when Shinji stepped in," a man with a rough voice said as he looked from the rooftop he was laying on up at where Satosuke was still in the air after having watched the Vizards escape into Soul Society with the two captains, one of which was also a Vizard.

The man had a stocky build, was tall, at least six feet, had slicked back, spiky black hair, and wore Shinigami robes. The top part he wore open and untucked, it also had had the sleeves removed and its edges were tattered. The pants were mostly the same except for their tattered edges. He wore black, fingerless, leather gloves on both hands, and combat boots on his feet. His overall appearance was disheveled and rough, we wore his zanpakutou on his back, at the waist and at an angle so that the hilt was between his right hip and ribs.

He then stood up and grabbed the hilt of his zanpakutou with his right hand and unsheathed in a reverse grip, then twirled it into a normal grip. The zanpakutou had a unique sealed form: it had a straight, single edged blade as opposed to the curved blade of most zanpakutou, and it had no handguard. The hilt was a simple black with a few white, snake like patterns etched into it.

He looked at the sword and then Satosuke before saying, "I think it's time for him to die. Slither, Hebi no Makaze!" As he said this he swung his zanpakutou in an arc towards Satosuke….

**A/N: Once again I am sorry for the extremely late update. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please Review.**


	13. Chapter 13: Cain's Reason

**A/N: I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Read and Review!**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter 13: Cain's Reason**

The Vizards followed Cain to an empty building in the west area of Seireitei, the things they had to discuss were not meant to be heard by others. Once they were inside they made themselves comfortable for the discussion to come.

"So Cain, it was you who re-awakened Ichigo's Hollow, right?" Shinji asked in a serious tone.

Cain was silent for a moment before responding, "Yes, it was me."

"Why the hell did you do that, you dickhead?!" Hiyori shouted as she tried to slap Cain with one of her sandals.

Cain simply caught Hiyori's by the wrist and gave her a slight glare, this quickly discouraged her, Cain had always been the only one able to stop her rampages. "Patience Hiyori, I intended to explain my reason for doing this," Cain said calmly as he released her. Hiyori nodded and walked back to her previous spot.

Once he was sure he had everyone's attention, Cain began to explain, "While it is true that Ichigo is a Vizard like all of us, he is also different than all of you."

There was a slight pause while they all considered this statement, Rose was the one who realized what Cain meant. "Wait, you mean he's…" Rose trailed off as Cain nodded.

"That's right, he's the same as Kraven and I. He has the potential to become far more powerful than any of you. You all aren't completely up to date with what's been going, though I assume that Urahara has been communicating with you about the situation. That thing took down Captain Commander Yamamoto, and Captains Ukitake and Kyoraku," Cain explained.

"I get it, you found out that they were gonna fight it, so you put a back up plan into action incase they lost, didn't ya?" Shinji asked.

When Cain nodded Love spoke up, "How do you know that _that_ will be enough to beat that monster?"

"I've used it before, so has Kraven, I know how powerful it is. Ichigo has the potential to become even stronger than what I can use, it's the best bet to beat that thing," Cain replied confidently.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments before Kensei spoke up, "Speaking of Kraven, did you kill that bastard?" Everyone focused on Cain as they waited for his answer.

Cain glanced at the ground before solemnly replying, "No. I found him and fought him, but it was a stalemate. He's still alive and I'm still hunting him down, but this is more important."

Kensei cursed under his breath as Shinji asked, "Why don't you let us help you? You don't have to do this alone Cain."

"No. Kraven is more powerful than all of you, I'm the only one of us that has the power to beat him. It's also because of me that he obtained this power, he is my responsibility, my second great sin," Cain replied with an angry and somber tone.

"Cain, her death wasn't your fault, even Ryuujin has told you this. If you don't want to listen to us you should at least listen to your zanpakutou," Rose stated after a moment.

Cain didn't reply to this statement, instead he walked to the door and opened it. "Let's go," he said simply as he vanished using _shunpo_.

Shinji sighed before he said, "He just can't let it go, he holds himself responsible for Akemi's death even now."

"He won't even listen to Ryuujin about the matter," Hachi said in a sad tone.

"Let him hold himself responsible, it's the fuel that has kept him going. His memories of her and his desire to atone for that is what had made him grow so powerful," Rose stated in a serious voice. They all nodded in agreement before they followed after Cain towards the Squad 4 relief station.

* * *

It was like déjà vu for Rukia, Chad, Uryu, and Orihime, waiting by Ichigo's bedside for him to wake up. This time they were joined by Nel and Renji, and Byakuya was in the bed on the other side of the room, he was awake, but was resting and had assured everyone he would be fine and he wanted to be left alone for now.

Rukia had not taken her eyes off of Ichigo since he had been placed in the bed, she had tears forming in her eyes, but once again she refused to let them fall.

Orihime had offered to heal Byakuya's injuries, he gratefully accepted the offer, but said he wanted to stay there and rest for a while longer. Now Orihime was watching Ichigo and Rukia with worried glances. Chad and Uryu were silent vigils in the room, not saying a word and watching over their friend. Renji was sitting near the door, to keep out any unwanted visitors.

Slowly, Ichigo's eyes opened, but they were unfocused and disorientated, but to everyone's relief they were his normal color eyes, not the cold eyes of his Hollow, after a moment they came into focus and he locked eyes with Rukia.

"Ichigo," Rukia said softly with a voice that sounded like she'd start crying at any moment. Ichigo slowly reached out and grasped Rukia's hand in his, squeezing it slightly to reassure her that he was okay.

"You had us worried, you know that right?" Renji asked from his seat by the door, voicing the thought on all their minds.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry everyone," Ichigo replied in a tired, solemn tone.

Nobody said anything in response to Ichigo's apology. They were all silent for a moment before Byakuya broke the silence, "I take it he is awake." With that he opened his eyes and turned his head to face Ichigo. When Ichigo also turned his head to face Byakuya he said, "It's good to see you are back in control Kurosaki."

"I'm sorry Byakuya, I couldn't stop him. I saw what he was doing but I couldn't do anything about it, he's stronger than he was before," Ichigo replied.

"There is no need to apologize, I can personally attest to how much stronger he has become. Just don't let it happen again, Ichigo," Byakuya stated, with a small smile. Everyone was shocked by both Byakuya's attitude and that he referred to Ichigo by his given name.

Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise before he let a small grin appear on his face as he replied, "Don't worry about that Byakuya, it won't."

Byakuya nodded at this before saying, "I believe we should leave Ichigo and Rukia alone for a while." When everyone nodded at this he continued, "It is slightly uncomfortable for me to ask this, but could one of you help up and out of the room?"

"Sure, I'll help you," Chad said as he walked over and help Byakuya get up, supporting him by placing Byakuya's arm over his shoulders. Everyone then quietly made their way out of the room, leaving Ichigo and Rukia alone.

Ichigo was still grasping Rukia's hand as he slowly looked back up at her face, he could see that she had already been crying, and looked like she was about to start again. "Rukia, I-," Ichigo began but was cut off as Rukia leapt on top of him, grabbed the top part of his robes, and kissed him, putting all her love, and fear into it. Ichigo was stunned by her sudden action, but returned the kiss after a moment. As soon as they parted, Rukia buried her face in his chest, her hands clung to his shoulders, and she wrapped her legs around one of his, as if creating the highest amount of physical contact would fix all the problems. Ichigo realized this is what was going through her mind and wrapped his arms around her as she began to cry uncontrollably into his chest.

"Rukia, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I never wanted you or anyone else to see me like that, when _he's _in control. I know Shinji and the other Vizards saved Byakuya and I, they can help me, I swear he will never get control again," Ichigo said to her as he held her tightly, rubbing her back reassuringly, with tears forming in his own eyes.

"I was so afraid, I'm still afraid. I was afraid that I'd lose you Ichigo, that we'd be forced to kill you if he stayed in control. I wouldn't know what to do if that happened to you, I love you so much," Rukia managed to get out between sobs.

Ichigo removed one of his arms from around her and brought his hand to her cheek and gently caressed it as he said, "Come on, look at me Rukia." When she looked up at him he saw that her eyes were red from crying and she still had tears pouring down her face, even though his robe was already thoroughly soaked. "Rukia, I love you, and I swear that I won't let that happen again," he said in a soft, yet determined tone. He then kissed her again, this time more gently and with more passion, to further reassure her.

After they ended this kiss, Rukia rested her head in the crook of Ichigo's neck and almost fell asleep. After a few minutes somebody knocked on the door. Ichigo looked down at Rukia, when she nodded he called, "Come in."

When the door opened it revealed Cain coming into the room. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" he asked as he walked in. When Ichigo shook his head Cain walk up and sat beside the bed and said, "I need to talk to you Ichigo, you also deserve to hear this Rukia."

"You have some explaining to do," Rukia said with a cold voice.

"Yes, I think you should tell me why you reawakened that bastard," Ichigo added.

"I knew that Captain Commander Yamamoto and Captains Ukitake and Kyoraku would fight Ranmyaku. In the case that they lost, I wanted to have a back up plan in motion, that's where reawakening your Hollow comes into play," Cain explained.

"How could that possibly help?" Ichigo asked angrily.

"By me teaching you how to reach the pinnacle of Vizard power, if you succeed, your power will greatly surpass Captain Commander Yamamoto, and you should have enough power to destroy Ranmyaku," Cain explained.

Both Ichigo's and Rukia's eyes widened and jaws dropped slightly in response to this, then Ichigo asked, "What do you mean?"

Cain grinned slightly and answered, "It's a complicated explanation, you two should get comfo-, oh wait, you already are." Ichigo and Rukia blushed slightly at this, but fought it off, eager to her what Cain had to say.

**A/N: And that's it for that chapter, I know there was no action in the fighting sense in this chapter, but I feel it was needed and came out well. I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter out, so until then I hoped you enjoyed this. Please review.**


	14. Chapter 14: The Training Begins

**A/N: Sorry for not updating in a few months but I have been very busy with school. Please Read and Review.**

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter Fourteen: The Training Begins**

"So Cain, how can I become strong enough to defeat Ranmyaku?" Ichigo asked with obvious curiosity.

"Well I have to explain the background of this power first before I explain how you are going to achieve it," Cain replied. Upon seeing both Ichigo and Rukia nod he continued, "You may or may not know this, but there are two types of Vizards, and only one type can reach the level of power that I am speaking of."

"Two types?" Rukia asked, Ichigo had an expression that asked the same thing.

Cain nodded before he replied, "Correct, there are artificial Vizards, and natural Vizards. Artificial Vizards are those whose hollowification was induced by some outside force, whereas in a natural Vizard the hollowification happened naturally. I have been told that your hollowification occurred when you were trying to regain your shinigami powers, if that is correct then you are a natural Vizard."

"Yes, that's true, but what difference does it make?" Ichigo asked.

"Vizards are very similar Arrancar, but there is one way in which they are both similar and different: an artificial Arrancar has more potential than a natural one, but the reverse holds true for Vizards. All of the Vizards you have met besides myself are artificial, their hollowification was induced by an airborne agent that Aizen used. Besides the two of us there has only been one other natural Vizard, but I won't go into that right now."

"So what kind of training will I have to go through to get this power?" Ichigo asked as he absorbed the new information.

"There is no real training, the method is almost exactly the same as reaching Bankai: you must materialize your Hollow, and force it into submission and gain its loyalty," Cain replied simply.

Ichigo stared at Cain for a few moments, then blinked a few times rapidly, and made a motion like he was cleaning out his ears before replying, "Say what now? Can you repeat that, I had something crazy in my ear."

Cain sighed before saying, "You heard what I said Ichigo, you may not like it, but it's the only way."

"That's just perfect, there's no way that bastard will give me his loyalty," Ichigo mumbled as he hung his head slightly.

A thought occurred to Rukia as she listened to Cain's explanation and she asked, "Cain, can you use this power?" Ichigo raised his head at this, his curiosity piqued.

"Yes I can," Cain said simply.

"Then why don't you go and fight that thing?" Ichigo asked in an annoyed tone.

"There is a drawback with this power: the first time you use it there is no problem, but for every time after that your chances of completely turning into a Hollow increase, and if that happens there is no going back, and I still need the use of that power at least one more time," Cain replied solemnly.

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

Cain shook his head slightly before answering, "I'm sorry but I don't want to go into that right now. Just trust me when I say that I have my reasons."

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other as if they were having a conversation using only their eyes. After a few moments Ichigo looked back to Cain and said, "Alright, I'll do it."

"I'm glad to hear that, we'll begin as soon as you are discharged and back at full power, you'll need every last ounce of your power for this," Cain replied as he made his way out the door.

* * *

For the next few days Ichigo rested at the Relief Station and Rukia remained by his side for most of that time. Byakuya was discharged after two days of resting and was currently watching Kaien and Masaki while Rukia was with Ichigo.

Kaien and Masaki were playing a game of tag in one of the gardens of the Kuchiki estate while Byakuya was reading and drinking a cup of tea. Though he hid it well, his body was still sore from the thrashing it had taken during the battle with Ichigo's inner Hollow despite having already being healed.

He was also trying to figure out why Ichigo's Hollow was so much more powerful than when he fought it all those years ago. _'It doesn't make sense, it has been suppressed all this time, how could it have gotten stronger? Is it because Kurosaki himself has become more powerful over the years?' _he thought to himself. It was true that Ichigo had become more powerful, during the final battle against Aizen and his army of Arrancar; it had taken both Ichigo in his Hollow form and Grimmjow in his Ressurecion form to defeat the Cuarta Espada, Ulquiorra. Over the years they had both increased their powers by a good amount, both Ichigo and Grimmjow were easily at the same level that Ulquiorra had been at.

"You look like you're pretty deep in thought, aren't ya Byakuya?" a carefree voice said from behind him.

Byakuya turned to see who had said that and greeted the man, "Good morning Hirako, and yes I was." With that he turned back to face his niece and nephew once more.

Shinji sighed loudly as he plopped down beside Byakuya. "You could at least act like you're a tiny bit happy to see the person who saved your ass from getting disintegrated ya know," Shinji said in a mock depressed tone.

Byakuya glared slightly at Shinji, he was grateful for the Vizard saving him and had already expressed that to him. Shinji was always a person that Byakuya did not enjoy being around, his carefree and unrefined attitude always pushed Byakuya's buttons.

"I believe I have already expressed my gratitude to you Hirako," Byakuya replied emotionlessly.

"Drop the damn formality would you? I told you all to call me Shinji," Shinji stated in an annoyed tone. Byakuya noticed this and a small smirk appeared on his face, just for a brief second. "Those are Ichigo and Rukia's kids right?" Shinji asked as he watched the children play their game.

"Correct, I am watching them while Rukia remains with Ichigo at the Relief Station," Byakuya replied.

"Kaien sure has grown since the last time I saw him, that was about seven years ago when they came to Karakura to visit Ichigo's sisters. I remember teasing Rukia about how fat she was at the time, being pregnant with Masaki and all," Shinji said reflectively, then paused for a moment and cringed before continuing, "She didn't appreciate that very much."

Byakuya allowed himself a small chuckle at the thought a pregnant Rukia beating Shinji into the ground for calling her fat. "Rukia does have a temper sometimes, I've seen her strike Ichigo many times, and it does look like it actually hurts him," Byakuya stated.

"You're telling me?! She hits as hard as Hiyori kicks, which is saying something," Shinji practically screamed. He then calmly asked, "So what were ya thinking about?"

"If you must know, I was thinking about my battle against Ichigo's Hollow. It makes no sense to me as to why it has become so much stronger, I considered that it is because Ichigo himself has become stronger, but when I think of his power boost before, this boost from his normal power is not proportional," Byakuya replied.

"You're right, his Hollow is stronger than you would think it would be. That's because Ichigo is different from us, and with Cain here, Ichigo is about to become more powerful than even the Captain Commander," Shinji answered in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

"What do you mean?" Byakuya asked.

"I can't really go into any details because I honestly don't know the details of how it works it works, nor have I actually seen the end result, but I believe Cain without a doubt," Shinji replied.

"Exactly how much more powerful than the Captain Commander would he become?" Byakuya asked warily.

"Not positive, but he would become our best bet to defeat Ranmyaku," Shinji replied optimistically.

Both were quiet for a few moments, and then Kaien and Masaki ran up to them. Masaki looked up at Shinji and asked, "You're a friend of my daddy and uncle Byakuya right?"

A big goofy grin spread across Shinji's face as he replied, "I sure am ya little munchkin."

"Would you like to play tag with us, it can be boring with just two people," Masaki asked with a pouty face.

"Oh of course I will, but it's even more fun with _four _people," Shinji replied as he cast a slight glance at Byakuya.

Byakuya noticed the look on Shinji's face and immediately said, "Don't even think about it Hirako."

"Aw come on ya stick in the mud, have some fun for a change!" Shinji exclaimed as he yanked Byakuya up by the arm. Before he knew what happened, Byakuya had been dragged out to the spot where the children had been playing by Shinji.

"Uncle Byakuya is going to play too?" Kaien asked skeptically.

Before Byakuya could protest Shinji answered, "Of course he is! He even said he'd take you two out for treats after we're done." He then turned to Byakuya who was a few feet behind him and asked with a goofy grin, "Didn't you, uncle Byakuya?"

Byakuya would have protested if not for the happy expression on Masaki's face, he had a weakness when it came to his niece. "Yes, that's right," Byakuya stated, causing the children to cheer and Shinji to start laughing.

Deciding to teach Shinji a bit of a lesson, Byakuya drew Senbonzakura, intending to use the petals of its Shikai to chase Shinji, but it was immediately snatched out of his hand by his intended victim.

"Nuh uh Byakuya, Ichigo warned me about you using your sword to chase people if they annoy you," Shinji said as he held Senbonzakura and then retrieved the sheath from Byakuya and sheathed it. Then as if scolding a young child he said, "You can have it back when we're done."

It was in that moment that Byakuya swore to hate Shinji until the day he died…..

* * *

A few days later, Ichigo, Cain, Rukia, and all of the Vizards were being led to Urahara and Yoruichi's old training ground by Yoruichi herself, Urahara had gone ahead to prepare it what was to come. It had been decided that only the captains would know the truth of Ichigo's "training", to everyone else he was just training in solitude for a little while.

When they arrived they saw that Urahara had been quite busy; he had repaired all previous damage to the area, and set up a large symbol that covered most of the floor as Cain had specified. This symbol had a point where each Vizard would sit and focus their energy.

"Alright, we'll begin immediately. Ichigo, stand inside this symbol, it doesn't matter where. Everyone else, take your places," Cain said simply.

Ichigo and Rukia shared a kiss before he went inside the symbol, in case they wouldn't get another chance. "Be careful you moron," Rukia pleaded as she embraced him.

"Don't worry midget, I will," Ichigo replied reassuringly as he held her tighter. She gave him a playful kick in the shin at the "midget" comment before she let him go.

When everyone was in their place, Cain jumped up above the symbol so he was almost touching the ceiling, then started to a chant that sounded like a kidou chant, but none of the Shinigami had ever heard it before. Each Vizard held out each hand so it was facing their comrades on their right and left, as the chant continued they all started to glow with a bright blue light and faint beams of energy connected their hands to each other, enclosing Ichigo in the center. After a moment all of their masks materialized on their faces, the glow and beams of energy instantly intensified. As he finished the incantation, Cain flipped so his open palm was facing the ground as an orb of energy formed in it, then beams of energy shot towards him out of the auras surrounding the other Vizards. These beams met with the orb held by Cain, and translucent walls formed between the beams, finishing an incredibly powerful barrier spell.

"Bakudo number One Hundred, Arena of Judgment," Cain stated as the spell finished.

"Amazing, I never knew there was a number one hundred," Rukia said as she stared at what the Vizards had created.

"That's because it has been removed from the official records, it's now classified as a forbidden kidou," Urahara stated.

"Why? And how do you know that?" Rukia asked.

"Aizen did a lot of research on this one, he found its file in the archives. It is forbidden because it causes hollowification in Shinigami, it got its name because it was once used to judge whether a Shinigami was powerful enough to be promoted to the Royal Guard. If the Shinigami could overcome their inner Hollow, then they were judged to be worthy of that honor, but its use was discontinued about seven hundred years ago. Aizen couldn't reproduce this kidou because he lacked enough high-powered followers, but the airborne agent he used to cause hollowification worked on the same energy wavelength as this kidou," Urahara explained.

"Before we made our escape to the living world, I managed to steal Aizen's research on this, and destroyed the original file. Then we gave that research to the Vizards after they won their inner battles," Yoruichi added.

"Then Cain found out that if it was used on a natural Vizard, a Shinigami whose hollowification happened naturally, it would forcibly materialize their inner Hollow, much like how a zanpakutou's spirit is materialized for Bankai training," Shinji, being close enough to hear the conversation, said.

"Amazing," was all that Rukia could say in response.

* * *

Inside the barrier, Ichigo had already taken Zangetsu off of his back and was waiting for his Hollow to materialize. Suddenly, a bolt of white energy shot out from Zangetsu and impacted the ground a fair distance away. When the dust cleared, Hichigo stood with his inverted Zangetsu slung over his shoulder, with his trademark sadistic grin on his face.

"Been a while hasn't it Ichigo? You've had me locked up for so long and I missed quite a bit; you became a captain, got married, and had two kids. If it weren't for _my _power you would have been dead a long time ago you pathetic worm," Hichigo said, the anger in his voice could be heard clearly by everyone.

"Believe whatever you want to, do I have to explain to you why you are here right now?" Ichigo asked in a serious tone.

"No, I've been able to hear every word since I was reawakened. And let me make one thing clear, I will never bow to you again!" Hichigo shouted as he charged in and locked blades with Ichigo. The second battle for dominance had begun…

**A/N: Once again sorry for not updating for so long but I have been rather busy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please Review.**


	15. Chapter 15: Reversal

**A/N: Sorry for the incredibly late update, I have had the worst case or writer's block in my life, and several personal things happening didn't help any. **

**After this chapter, this story will officially be on hiatus for an undetermined amount of time. I am having a hard time writing this story right now (obviously). I will however start working on another story, the title is still in the works, but the one I have right now is, _Bleach: The Untold Saga._ This story will feature my OC Cain Nightshade as the main character, and follow his story from the end of his mortal life to his appearance in this story.**

**Also, I must clarify a few things because of events in the manga. First: Ichigo and Ulquiorra did not fight in Hueco Mundo, Ichigo and the others managed to escape without fighting him. Ichigo and Grimmjow fought and defeated Ulquiorra in the final battle two years later. Second: Ichimaru was killed by Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, Tousen was killed by Komamura and Hisagi, and Aizen was killed by Shinji. **

**Bleach: True Darkness**

**Chapter 15: Reversal  
**

Zangetsu and the inverted sword locked with a loud _Clang _of metal on metal. Hichigo started to force Ichigo backwards, cackling like a maniac the whole time. Unlike before, Ichigo was not intimidated by his Hollow's behavior during their battle. It was the Hollow's way of weakening Ichigo's resolve, but Ichigo didn't allow it to work, he quickly shoved back with more force, sending the Hollow backwards.

"Hmph, you've toughened up Ichigo. Last time you were trembling with fear when we fought, but you're calm and collected this time. So much for this being a quick win," Hichigo stated with mild disappointment.

"Damn right it won't be quick," Ichigo replied using a shunpo to get behind his Hollow and aimed an attack at his back. Hichigo spun around and easily blocked the attack, then countered with a vertical slash, which Ichigo side-stepped and countered with his own attack. They carried on in this manner for several minutes; blocking, dodging, countering, but neither landing a hit.

* * *

Outside the barrier, Urahara and Yoruichi watched the fight carefully, Urahara had a slight gleam in his eyes, even though Ichigo's soul was at stake, he couldn't stop being a scientist and he had never seen anything like this before. Cain and the other Vizards had all entered meditative trances, as much as they would like to watch the fight and root for Ichigo, they had to maintain the barrier at all costs.

Rukia watched her husband fight a vicious battle against his evil half with a concerned, unwavering stare. "Ichigo," she murmured quietly. A hand suddenly clasped her shoulder and she jumped slightly.

"Relax Rukia, Ichigo will win, have faith in him," Yoruichi said calmly.

"I do have faith in him, but I love him, so I can't help but worry about him in these kind of situations where I can't help him," Rukia replied in a sad tone.

"I believe you are helping him by just being here," Urahara interjected. Before Rukia could ask, he proceeded to explain his statement, "The three of you: you, Kaien, and Masaki, are his reason for existing. His love for you and your children is his inner strength; his determination to protect the three of you is what makes him push himself to his limits and beyond to get stronger. This is just another hurdle for him to overcome, and he always rises to the challenge."

Rukia allowed Urahara's words to sink in, and while they made her feel a bit better, she was still worried. "This fight isn't like any of the others," she said quietly.

"He has fought and defeated his Hollow before Rukia, this is basically the same as then," Yoruichi replied calmly.

"No it's not, his Hollow is stronger than before!" Rukia exclaimed with tears forming in her eyes.

"So is Ichigo, he's gotten much stronger than he was back then, and he's far more experienced. His Hollow may be powerful, but it's nothing that Ichigo can't handle. Besides, it's actually two on one, Ichigo has Zangetsu to help him, his Hollow is all alone," Urahara replied, and then turned his attention back to the fight.

"It may seem impossible Rukia, but you have to remember, this is Ichigo. How many times has he done what people thought was impossible?" Yoruichi asked in a cheerful tone with a smile.

'_She's right, Ichigo has done things that seemed impossible or crazy; he defeated a Gillian after only a few months of being a Shinigami, he regained his powers and achieved Shikai after Nii-sama inflicted what should have been fatal wounds, he stormed the Seireitei in order to save me from being executed, he fought Captain Zaraki to a draw, he achieved Bankai in just three days, stopped the Soukyoku with just his Shikai, then he defeated Nii-sama. And that's just the beginning of what he's done,' _Rukia thought to herself.

"Ichigo! Put that bastard back in his place, if you don't I'll kill you, got it Strawberry?!" Rukia shouted with a grin on her face.

* * *

Ichigo smirked when he heard Rukia's "threat", and then shouted, "Got it Midget!" He then laughed at Rukia's glare.

"Bleh! All this touchy feely pet-name stuff is making me sick," Hichigo stated in disgust. He then jumped backwards and fired a _Getsuga _at Ichigo, which was easily dodged by a shunpo which placed Ichigo behind his Hollow.

"You'll have to do much better than that, _Getsuga Tenshou_!" Ichigo shouted as he fired his own attack at his Hollow, who blocked it with his inverted Zangetsu. Hichigo was forced backwards by the force of the attack, until he slammed into the wall of barrier where the _Getsuga_ exploded. Everyone was surprised to hear Hichigo shout slightly in pain. As the dust cleared, Hichigo was revealed with a shallow wound on his chest and his back was singed from his collision with the barrier, part of the material burnt away to reveal singed skin.

Ichigo walked over to the barrier and slowly placed his hand on it, with nothing happening. "Note to self, the barrier can hurt him," Ichigo said out loud as he advanced towards Hichigo once again. "Is it me, or does this situation seemed reversed from the last time?" Ichigo asked with a smirk.

"Fuck you, I'm just getting started!" Hichigo shouted as he used a _shunpo _to close the gap between and unleashed a barrage of attacks on Ichigo. Ichigo, having been surprised by the sudden assault, received a slash to his left shoulder before he counter attacked and locked blades with Hichigo once again.

"For being locked up for so long, you're not that rusty, thought I'd have a bit of an advantage," Ichigo muttered as they both pushed against each other.

"Heh, sorry to disappoint you," Hichigo replied with his sadistic grin. With that said, they both vanished using _shunpo_ and the battle resumed.

* * *

Renji quickly brought Hihio Zabimaru in front of him to block the large blast of reiatsu that had been fired at him. He noticed a flash of light from the side and cursed as he dodged several arrows with a _shunpo_.

"I should have known that training with these two was a bad idea," Renji muttered to himself as his two opponents prepared to attack once again.

_(Flashback)_

_Renji was sitting in his office staring at the paperwork on his desk. He was thinking about the "training" that Ichigo would be starting at some point that day; it had been decided that only the captains would know of the true nature of what he was doing, not even Central 46, Chad, Uryu, or Orihime knew the truth, to everyone else Ichigo was just training in solitude._

_Renji had just dismissed Kira for the rest of the day, even though it was ten in the morning, paperwork just seemed pointless to Renji with everything that was happening. _

_There was a knock on the door and Renji absent-mindedly called out, "Come in"._

"_Abarai, we need you assistance with something," a polite but stern voice said._

_Renji looked up to see who had entered his office, and saw Uryu and Chad. "Ishida? Sado? What do you need my help for?" he asked hesitantly._

"_We want you to train with us, like you did with me before we went to rescue Orihime from Hueco Mundo," Chad replied._

"_What for?" Renji asked._

"_That should be obvious: we want to get stronger. Kurosaki is off with the Vizards, Urahara, and Yoruichi training. You captains may be able to fool Central 46, but we can tell this is no ordinary training he's going through," Uryu answered._

"_We are both close to reaching something, we can feel it. All we need is to fight against another warrior with power equivalent to a captain, that's where you come in," Uryu explained._

"_If Ichigo is going to get stronger to fight this thing, then we need to get stronger as well, so we can continue to fight alongside him," Chad added quickly._

_Renji sat quietly for a moment to soak what they said in before grinning like a mad man and exclaiming, "Well what are we waiting for?!"_

_(End Flashback)_

"Damn them for talking me into this…." Renji muttered as the training resumed.

* * *

"_Getsuga Tenshou!_" Ichigo shouted as he swung Zangetsu in a large arc towards Hichigo. Hichigo quickly used a _shunpo _to dodge the attack and then rushed in to attack Ichigo with diagonal slash, which Ichigo dodged by moving to the side, but didn't see Hichigo's fist coming at his face. The force of the punch broke Ichigo's nose and sent him flying backwards before he regained his footing.

"That was low, even for you," Ichigo grumbled as he forced his nose back into place and wiped some blood from his face.

"There's no such thing as a cheap shot in a fight with stakes this high," Hichigo replied roughly as he began to circle Ichigo.

"You know, this circling move only really works in Bankai, I can easily follow your movements right now," Ichigo stated as he tracked his Hollow. Hichigo in response started to use _shunpo _to increase his speed and began to close in.

Ichigo began to spin Zangetsu above his head by the hilt wrap and shouted, "_Getsuga Tenshou!_" The attack fired from the sword as it continued to be spun, so it shot out in a full circle. Hichigo leapt into the air to dodge the _Getsuga_, he then began to spin his inverted Zangetsu by the hilt wrap, and then launched his sword like a flail at Ichigo. Ichigo side stepped the sword and it lodged itself in the ground, Ichigo then pointed at Hichigo and shouted, "Hado number four, Byakurai!"

Hichigo's eyes widened in shock as a large bolt of lightning shot from Ichigo's finger at him. He then quickly rotated his body in mid air so the attack just barely missed while shouting, "Well that's new!" At this point his inverted Zangetsu's extended hilt wrap had begun retracting, and he used his rotating motion to slingshot the sword in a large arc towards Ichigo, who used Zangetsu to block the extremely powerful attack from the side.

As Hichigo landed and the hilt wrap retracted all the way he asked, "Since when can you use fucking _Kido_?"

"When old man Yamamoto offered me a captain's position, Rukia insisted on teaching me how to use _kido_. We quickly found out that I have nowhere near the required control over my reiatsu to use the higher spells, but I can use the lower spells with surprising power. Even though I rarely use it, I have to admit that knowing how to is extremely useful," Ichigo replied calmly.

"You really have gotten better, I hate to admit, but I'm having trouble keeping up with you with Shikai….but I've always been better with Bankai than you," Hichigo stated with his sadistic grin as he brought his inverted Zangetsu in front of him and pointed it at Ichigo.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he quickly brought Zangetsu forward to mirror his Hollow as they simultaneously shouted, "Bankai!"

**A/N: And that's the end of that chapter, sorry it wasn't very long but with my writer's block for this story it took me months just to get that much. As stated above I am taking a hiatus for this story for an undetermined amount of time, but will work on another story so expect to see that soon. Until then, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.**

**Please Review**


	16. Author Apology

I must apologize to those of you who have read this story and have enjoyed it. After reading and re-reading this story I have realized that the reason I can't find the motivation to work on it is because I'm not happy with it. While I know where I was going with the plot I no longer like the story as a whole, which is unfortunate. So as of now I am discontinuing this story.

I do however have two other ideas for Bleach stories, but I'm going to see how the manga plays out for a bit longer before I actually start on those.

Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this story, my first attempt at fanfiction. I once again apologize for not finishing this story, but I can promise that the ones I have in mind will be better than this one, and I look forward to seeing you all there.


End file.
